SINGAPORE: The National Library Board's (NLB) collection of ebooks has grown nearly eight times since it started offering them in 2005.
NLB said these ebooks -- which are available in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil -- are becoming more popular among its members, and the collection has grown from just 400,000 titles in 2005, to over three million in 2013.
This is comparable to the 4.9 million physical titles -- including books, magazines and audio visual material -- at NLB's 26 libraries across the island.
NLB said it is always on the lookout for new ways to bring different services to its members.
Jasna Dhansukhlal, assistant director for NLB’s Library Services & Management, said: “Today's lifestyle is really on the move and people are very busy, so they might not have time to… come down and borrow a book or go down to a book shop. So ebooks are a very convenient option.”
The ebook service has been gaining popularity in recent years. Between 2010 and 2011, the loan rate for ebooks grew by 25 per cent to 4.9 million loans.
Each user can borrow up to six books from NLB's website at no charge. Avid readers said they like the service, especially since few ebooks online are free.
Giles Goh, a banker who is an avid reader, said: “There's a wider selection (for other services), obviously, (and) you can download it, but you have to pay for it… the library's got a huge selection, and it's free, (so) why not?”
To borrow an ebook from the library, users will need to login to their NLB account on the NLB website. The next step is to select a book, click “borrow”, and it is done.
However, the digital library is just like a physical library – the quantity is limited, and titles that have already been borrowed by other users will not be available. But users can indicate their interest to reserve the ebooks once they are available.
Overdue fines are also a thing of the past as ebooks are automatically returned to the library once they are due.
Ms Dhansukhlal said: “When you borrow an ebook, one of the good things is you don't have to worry about when you have to return it… So once the 21-day loan period is over, it will be automatically returned to the library, and you can borrow another one without worrying about fines.”
NLB said it is planning to add another 800,000 ebook titles by the end of 2013.