E-dreaming on a snowy day
Preparing for a trip with your kids? Or daydreaming about one? There are now over 150 Frommer’s electronic guidebooks available for download from the Calgary Public Library website. We also have some DK Eyewitness Travel series and “for Dummies” travel series, plus books by travel writers like Peter Mayle, Frances Mayes, and Bill Bryson. If you have a laptop, Kobo or Sony e-Reader, iPhone or iPad to read them with, you are in luck. You can load up some electronic books before you leave, and grab more while you’re away, all using your CPL library card. That’s meant a lot less weight in your suitcase!
You need a reading device, a USB cable, a CPL library card, and a little time to download some software. The collection of e-books is called Overdrive, and you find a link on our home page. You are directed to download software called Adobe Editions to manage the e-books, which is required by the publishers to protect copyright. The e-book is downloaded to your computer using an online checkout system, and then transferred to your device. iPhone users get a streamlined process with an app.
I like to use “Advanced search” to find books, which allows me to limit to the subject “Travel”. The radio button option “Only show copies with copies available” is great when I want something right now. Otherwise, I can put e-books on hold, just like the popular books in the regular collection.
I’ve downloaded Storybook travels: From Eloise's New York to Harry Potter's London, Visits to 30 of the Best-Loved Landmarks in Children's Literature by Colleen Dunn Bates. This slight book attracted me because I always like to find a kids’ novel about the place we’re going next.
Somebody else in the city is filling up their e-reader at the same time as me. The 2nd edition of Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Upby Holly Hughes is checked out, so I placed a hold.
Overdrive also has electronic audio books to download and listen to on MP3 players or an iPod. I loaded up Hatchet by Gary Paulsen and The B.F.G. by Roald Dahl to help Simon through the boring time waiting for planes.