It's the library of the future here today: You now can check out a library book without entering a library or turning a page.
Lancaster County's public libraries took another step toward embracing technology this week with the addition of audio books that can be downloaded to home computers.
With a library card and Internet access, computer users may download classics, popular titles and even children's books onto their computers.
From there, titles can be transferred onto wireless portable devices. Many can be put onto compact discs. And, soon, the library hopes to have the technology to load them onto iPods.
Susan Hauer, the Library System of Lancaster County administrator, said such technology represents the future of library use.
"That's what people want. We're living in a virtual world now," Hauer said. "It reaches people wherever they are — work, home, school — wherever."
Library users of all ages are listening to audio books, she said.
"You go anywhere today, if people aren't talking on their cell phones, they're listening to something," she said of the ubiquitous earbuds worn by pedestrians, people in the gym, airports or on the bus.
"And, you can do this through some cell phones too," she said of listening to audio books.
The service through the Library System's Web site,
www.lancasterlibraries.org, became available on Monday, said system spokeswoman Mary Ann Heltshe-Steinhauer.
The Library System recently signed a four-year contract with the OverDrive company to provide service at a cost of $1,200 a month. That cost is being paid from county funds that support the system.
The downtown Lancaster Public Library paid $10,000 from a state grant to provide more than 150 of the digital audio books. OverDrive provided another $10,000 worth of audio books to get the service started, Hauer said.
The 323 titles available range from literary classics, such as Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales," to modern non-fiction, such as "Amish Grace," Donald Kraybill's book on the 2006 Amish schoolhouse shootings at Nickle Mines, and Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope."
DIGITAL AUDIO BOOKS FROM LIBRARY
• Download onto home computer.• Over 300 titles, including best-sellers, classics and non-fiction.• Download expires after 14 days.• Requirements: Valid library card, download free program.• To use: On www.lancasterlibraries.org, click on "download audio books" tab.
Eventually, the system hopes to add electronic books that can be read on computers or mobile hand-held devices. Downloadable music and movies also are available from OverDrive, said Hauer.
The digital audio book service is a continuation of an effort to adopt new technology the county's public libraries began about five years ago. Since then, the Library System has made listings of its book collection available and allowed computer users to reserve books.
It also has provided searchable databases to county businesses and home computer users, a homework help site where children can contact online tutors, and established a health information service with local hospitals and the United Way.
"There are all kinds of things that we are providing electronically," she said.
In fact, Hauer said the Library System has tracked a 30 percent increase in use of its online services in the past year.
Yet, Hauer said there always will be a place for the bricks-and-mortar community library. Libraries have become even more important in recent years, and more heavily used in hard economic times, she said.
Staff writer Bernard Harris can be reached at bharris@LNPnews.com or 481-6022. 