Priscilla O'Donnell checked out a book at the Beverly Public Library Friday morning - by turning on her home computer, logging onto the Internet and clicking "Download."
Five minutes later, a file containing the narrated version of "The Story of Chicago May" by Nuala O'Faolin had been transferred from the library's Web site to O'Donnell's hard drive, then to her portable MP3 player, allowing her to listen while she sews, cooks or lies in bed.
"I love it," said O'Donnell, a retired Beverly resident. "The convenience of just being able to go to your computer and download a book is wonderful."
Visiting the library no longer means navigating a maze of shelves and checking out books. North Shore libraries are now letting users access audio books, census records, old newspapers and - soon - DVDs for free without ever leaving their homes.
"That's the direction libraries are going - making things accessible to people that can't make it into the library, to still be their center of information," said Patricia Cirone, Beverly's library director.
Since Beverly started offering eAudiobooks in August, the numbers have risen steadily. In January, books were downloaded 94 times from the library's Web site. The most downloaded book so far is "Bringing Down the House," about six MIT students who won millions gambling at Vegas casinos. Foreign language lessons are also popular.
The Salem Public Library just launched the service this month, becoming the latest community on the North Shore to offer it. Libraries in Ipswich, Hamilton-Wenham, Middleton, Topsfield and Manchester-by-the-Sea also provide a similar service through the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium.
"This is really the way it's going," said Lorraine Jackson, Salem's library director. "With people so busy, it's great for people to be doing this anytime. It sort of means we're open 24 hours a day."
No reserves, no late fees
The entire process typically takes five to 10 minutes, depending on your computer and your connection speed to the Internet. Users log on to the library's Web site, search for titles online, then download the ones they want - for free. Users must be local residents and have a library card.
Late fees aren't an issue. After three weeks, the encrypted file automatically locks up, blocking the user from reopening it. You can, however, renew the book for another three weeks.
Five minutes later, a file containing the narrated version of "The Story of Chicago May" by Nuala O'Faolin had been transferred from the library's Web site to O'Donnell's hard drive, then to her portable MP3 player, allowing her to listen while she sews, cooks or lies in bed.
"I love it," said O'Donnell, a retired Beverly resident. "The convenience of just being able to go to your computer and download a book is wonderful."
Visiting the library no longer means navigating a maze of shelves and checking out books. North Shore libraries are now letting users access audio books, census records, old newspapers and - soon - DVDs for free without ever leaving their homes.
"That's the direction libraries are going - making things accessible to people that can't make it into the library, to still be their center of information," said Patricia Cirone, Beverly's library director.
Since Beverly started offering eAudiobooks in August, the numbers have risen steadily. In January, books were downloaded 94 times from the library's Web site. The most downloaded book so far is "Bringing Down the House," about six MIT students who won millions gambling at Vegas casinos. Foreign language lessons are also popular.
The Salem Public Library just launched the service this month, becoming the latest community on the North Shore to offer it. Libraries in Ipswich, Hamilton-Wenham, Middleton, Topsfield and Manchester-by-the-Sea also provide a similar service through the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium.
"This is really the way it's going," said Lorraine Jackson, Salem's library director. "With people so busy, it's great for people to be doing this anytime. It sort of means we're open 24 hours a day."
No reserves, no late fees
The entire process typically takes five to 10 minutes, depending on your computer and your connection speed to the Internet. Users log on to the library's Web site, search for titles online, then download the ones they want - for free. Users must be local residents and have a library card.
Late fees aren't an issue. After three weeks, the encrypted file automatically locks up, blocking the user from reopening it. You can, however, renew the book for another three weeks.
And at some online libraries, there's no waiting list, even for the most popular titles. Users can download any title instantly.
"There's no reserve for the latest best-seller," Jackson said. "Everybody can get it at the same time."
(Some libraries, however, subscribe to a lower tier of the service that limits the number of patrons that can have the file on their computers or mp3 players at one time.)
For local libraries, digital versions of books offer at least one advantage over the tangible kind.
"People can't lose them," Cirone said.
There are downsides. The files are in ".wma" format, which doesn't work with iPods, though other portable MP3 players support them.
"Some libraries have been reluctant to get into it because it doesn't serve the player that the majority of the people have," said Ron Gagnon, executive director of the North of Boston Library Exchange, a consortium of area libraries. "If it worked with all the machines, more libraries would get into it."
Cost has been another factor holding some libraries back from offering eAudiobooks, he said.
And because the audio version is one large file, not broken up by chapters, losing your place can mean holding the fast-forward button for as long as a half-hour to scroll through a 10-hour recording.
SATs and old newspapers
For some people, nothing will ever replace the satisfaction of physically holding a book and reading it. But for others, the convenience of online materials outweighs the drawbacks.
Instead of rummaging through piles of old newspapers or scouring boxes of microfiche slides, library patrons can now access archived newspaper articles from as far back as the 1870s, librarians say - without ever leaving their homes. Research papers, journals and magazines are available through online databases on the library Web sites.
If you want to look up your family history, you can also search online federal census, birth, death, marriage and tax records and old city directories.
At the Salem library site, visitors can even take practice SAT, GED and U.S. citizenship tests.
And that may be just the beginning.
In a few months, both Beverly and Salem libraries are expected to roll out online DVDs, allowing users to download videos of movies and TV shows. Depending on the kind of services libraries subscribe to, the videos could range from PBS shows and classic movies to the latest Hollywood blockbusters.
That means nearly all the services at the local library may soon be available 24 hours a day - even if the doors to the building are locked.
"If it's 2 a.m. and you have a question or need to look something up," Jackson said, "we're open."
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at 978-338-2526 or by e-mail at ccassidy@ecnnews.com.
WHO'S GOT IT
Local libraries offering online audiobooks:
Salem
www.noblenet.org/salem
Beverly
www.noblenet.org/beverly
Ipswich
www.town.ipswich.ma.us/library/
Hamilton-Wenham
www.hwlibrary.org/
Middleton
www.flintlibrary.org/
Topsfield
www.topsfieldtownlibrary.org/
Manchester-by-the-sea
www.manchesterpl.org/
GET IT FROM HOME
Using your local library doesn't necessarily mean walking into a building anymore. By logging on to the library's Web site, Internet users can access the following resources online:
r Online audiobooks (the Internet version of books on tape, easily downloadable to a portable MP3 player)
r SAT practice exams
r U.S. Census records
r Boston-area newspapers dating to the 1870s
r Scientific research papers
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