Anyone with a library card can browse the audio books selection online, then request access to a file for 28 days. During that time, users can download the file to a CD or portable MP3 player, or just listen to it on their PC. At the end of 28 days, the file becomes unusable and available for the next person to "check out." It essentially returns itself, eliminating late fees and trips to the book drop-off.
King County was the first of roughly 100 public libraries to sign a contract with Overdrive eBooks. The company works with audio book publishers, then makes the downloaded files available to the libraries through catalogs. Librarians select which books, and how many copies, they'd like, much as they would with a physical product but "without the problems of either having it deteriorate, having it stolen, the need for shelf-space or staff time that it takes to move [actual books] from here to there," says Marsha Iverson, spokesperson for King County Library.
The library sees digital audio books as a way to reach new customers. And several state libraries, which provide services to people with disabilities, have seized on them as a tool to increase accessibility for the visually impaired.
After a Seattle Times article publicized King County's new offering in January, its popularity was such that virtually every audio book in the system had a waiting list--even Thuvia.
