Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 3, 2001
BEVERLY HILLS -- Are you an "e-borrower?"
On Tuesday, that's a question that librarians of the Citrus County Library System and more than 30 libraries in 10 counties in west-central Florida will be asking their visitors.
The libraries, in conjunction with the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, have tabbed March 6 as "e-Day." Librarians will be encouraging patrons to sign up for LibrarE, an online service that allows library card holders to download electronic books to their home computers.
Electronic books, or "e-books," are full-text electronic versions of published books that "e-borrowers" can search, borrow, read and return over the World Wide Web. To become an e-borrower and check out e-books from LibrarE, you must first create an account on a computer at any branch of the Citrus County Library System. Once your account is created, you can use it to log in from any computer with Internet access. You don't need a special reader or other device to enjoy electronic books.
E-borrowers can access more than 16,000 electronic books on topics from Shakespeare to holistic medicine to computer programming. Titles are available across all subject areas, including business, history, health/medicine, sociology, literature, religion, science, computer science and education. Specific resources include The Complete Idiot guides, covering creative weddings to online shopping to computer science careers; career guides, covering interviews, resumes, cover letters, business etiquette, public speaking and more; consumer health & law, including publications from People's Medical Society and NOLO Press; juvenile and young adult literature, including A Day in the Life of a Dancer and A Kid's Guide to Staying Safe on the Streets; Cliffs Notes, including more than 200 titles; and travel guides, including both national and international destinations. These books are available for checkout at any time.
LibrarE is part of a wider initiative of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium. Founded in 1979, the consortium is a non-profit, multitype cooperative. Its mission is to lead and encourage collaboration, resource sharing and innovations to ensure that the people of west-central Florida have excellent, up-to-date services and access to the world of information.
For information, contact the closest library to you: Coastal Region Library, Crystal River, 795-3716; Lakes Region Library, Inverness, 726-2357; Central Ridge Library, Beverly Hills, 746-6622; Homosassa Public Library, 628-5626; and Floral City Public Library, 726-3671; or visit the library system's Web site at www.cclib.org.