Get Your Next E-Book at the County Library

Did you get a new e-reader or tablet computer (commonly known as an iPad) during the holidays? Wondering what to do with it? The St. Louis County Library has the answer.

The library has more than 7,000 e-books to choose from, including popular titles recently made into movies and TV shows: The Help, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Water for Elephants and A Song of Ice and Fire. The books return themselves automatically after seven, 14 or 21 days (your choice), meaning no late fees—ever.

To help readers check out e-books on the library’s website, librarians are hosting classes to help patrons learn to use their new Nook, iPad, Kindle and other eBook devices.

The how-to classes in January and February are a preemptive effort by library staff, who usually get an influx of questions about e-readers after the holidays.

“People get them as gifts a lot,” eMedia specialist Heather Pehrson said, so the library anticipates e-book inquiries after the winter holiday season and around Mother’s and Father’s days.

There are “a lot of hoops to jump through” when checking out an e-book for the first time, Pehrson said. The free software linking the e-book database to the e-reader is “very device specific,” so iPad users have a different protocol than those with Nooks or Kindles.

That’s where the classes come in. Times and dates are listed on the library’s website, and a few of the classes are already booked up. Library cardholders can also schedule a one-on-one 30-minute appointment with a librarian for a personalized explanation of their device.

Once readers have selected their device and installed the free software, they can browse the library’s e-books and choose some to check out.

About 70 percent of the library’s e-books are already checked out, and there is often a wait for more popular titles. Since e-books automatically return themselves, readers will know when wait-listed book will be available.

E-book checkouts aren’t renewable, so readers can't keep a book longer than 21 days if there are more people waiting for it.