Freading, a NEW ebook program!

Effective May 1st, The Alberta Library has licensed Freading (http://www.libraryideas.com/freading.html), an ebook solution for TAL member public libraries.  This is a one year pilot project funded by the Alberta Public Library Electronic Network (APLEN) via Alberta Municipal Affairs Public Library Services Branch and is meant to supplement library ebook collections.  Up to $400,000 has been committed to the license over the next 12 months.

The easy-to-access collection currently includes approximately 12,000 titles from all genres, with new titles added regularly.

Freading offers unlimited simultaneous access to all titles, so there are no wait times or hold lists. Freading also provides mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.

As the name suggests, Freading is free to library patrons, based on a weekly token system.

Each book on the Freading site is labeled with the number of tokens required to download it. The required number of tokens varies between 1 to 4 tokens per two-week checkout and the average ebook is 2 tokens.

Ebooks are downloaded for a two-week period and may be renewed for another two weeks. The two-week renewal may use additional tokens, depending on the book.

Patrons will be allotted 4 tokens per week and unused tokens roll over to the next week.   If the weekly limits are reached, users may not download, but may add an ebook to the "wishlist" and reserve it for the next week.