Take a look at the titles available on Overdrive or NetLibrary or Project Gutenburg and learn about downloadable audiobooks.
E-readers—and librarians' comfort level with handling customer inquiries about how to use them—has been the biggest challenge in my profession in the last year. Not only are there a multitude of different devices capable of downloading e-books and e-audiobooks—Amazon's Kindle and Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble's Nook, Apple's iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch to name just a few—there are also vast differences in the technical expertise of library customers learning to use them.
Fortunately, tech savvy staff at MCPL have been tireless in developing training for staff who are less familiar with how to operate e-readers, and our Friends of the Library have supported us in this endeavor by purchasing e-readers for librarians to use for demonstrations in the branches. Although we are no longer subscribing to NetLibrary, MCPL customers can download OneClickDigital audiobooks, which are always available. And the number of titles available on OverDrive is growing.
An astonishing statistic from FY14 budget hearings for the library system noted that ebook downloads increased five-fold in the last three years, from just under 5,000 checkouts in January 2010 to over 25,000 in December 2013. Fortunately, the trend has been mirrored by an increase in the number of available e-book titles.
Even Gutenberg is no longer the only place to get public-domain e-books. Google Books and Bookyards—among others—have gotten into the act, and there are numerous free e-book apps for iPhones, Androids and the like.