So, finally after last week‘s e-book explanation, this week we will actually read library e-books on the Nook (I feel I should give the Nook a name). We will download books from OverDrive, EbscoBooks, and Ebrary. After trying, I am happy that I got a Nook instead of a Kindle because a Nook can read many more e-books especially those that have DRM.
I started by downloading Adobe Digital Editions on both my work PC and my home Mac. This is a fairly simple process but does require registering a username with Adobe and authorizing each computer to access the account. Even though both computers are authorized to the same account, the downloads are not kept on the cloud so what is downloaded on my work PC is not the same as what is downloaded on my home Mac.
Since I’m at Baylor, the public library I use is the Waco-McLennan County Library. From the homepage, to get to the e-books click on the Download Books and Media link and then the Download Audio and Ebooks link which will take you to the OverDrive page associated with this library. The first time I made the mistake of trying to find e-books through the main catalog. Browse through the books. Add up to 5 to your cart. Check them out. Download them. You will have to have your library card and pin (I had to call them to get my pin number) to check out the books. If you need to redownload the books, you can do so under My Digital Media Account.
For EbscoBooks, the process is fairly similar. You need to have an Ebsco account (equivalent of a library card) which uses an email and a password. Search or browse for a book, and then click the download link. You have the option of searching for only downloadable books. Currently, 7 days is your only option for borrowing a book. If you need to redownload a book, the books are listed under My Checkouts.
Like for EbscoBooks, you need an Ebrary account to download books. In this case, you need to create a username and it can’t be an email address. Most Ebrary books allow you to download a pdf of (or print) 60 pages at a time with no DRM. However, there are a limited number of titles (I haven’t figured out how to find them yet and I think it has to with the library’s Ebrary settings) that allow downloads of the full book to Adobe Digital Edition. After you search or browse the books, click on the download link. Then simply pick whether you want the partial or complete download. If the full download is not available, it will tell you. I haven’t found a way to see which books you have checked out since they are not automatically listed in a folder or on a bookshelf.
On the PC using Firefox, the files were downloaded into a folder called “My Digital Editions” and opened up automatically in Adobe Digital Editions. On the Mac, Safari downloaded the file onto my desktop (the default). I then moved it to the “My Digital Editions” folder and then double-clicked on the .acsm file to open it.
One nice thing is that each book in Adobe Digital Editions has a banner on it letting you know when the book will be due. You can also return the book to the library if you finish reading it before the due date. I’m not sure what happens to the book when the due date is reached since I haven’t had any of my books out that long yet.
To transfer the books to the Nook, simply connect the Nook to the computer with the USB cable. Then open up Adobe Digital Editions. Under the standard bookshelves will be one labelled Nook. Simply drag the books you want to the Nook bookshelf and the files will be synced. Make sure you have enough room for the books you want to read.
Everything I downloaded seemed to work well although I do prefer reading ePubs on the Nook to pdfs.
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