The Seattle Public Library has greatly increased its online offerings with an additional 15,000 digital E-books, as well as free access to The Seattle Times historical archives from 1900-1984.
The archive is in addition to the Library’s subscription to digitized copies of the Seattle Times from 1985 to the present. NewsBank, publisher of the Seattle Times Historical Archives, is in the process of digitizing the years 1896 through 1899, with completion expected in January 2011.
The archive is fully searchable and users can print, magnify and save digital copies of the Seattle Times.
To view digital copies of newspapers in the Seattle Times Historical Archives, go to www.spl.org and click on “Library Collection,” then “Databases & Web Sites,” and select “Magazines & Newspapers.” Scroll down the page to find the “Seattle Times Historical Archives.”
As for the 15,000 new digital books, they are public domain titles whose copyrights expired. Volunteers from Project Gutenberg have been digitizing public domain books. The Library now has more than 70,000 files in seven digital formats.
The e-books can be downloaded to a PC or Mac, and transferred to some electronic reading devices.
The 15,000 public domain e-book titles are separate from the main OverDrive collection and all files have DRM-free access. The public domain titles are always available and since downloads do not expire, so there are no due dates or late fees to worry about!
To browse and download public domain e-books available via OverDrive, go to www.spl.org and click on “Library Collection,” then select “Digital Books & Media.” Scroll down to the OverDrive section and click the “Go to OverDrive Project Gutenberg e-books” link. A Library card and PIN number are not required to download public domain items.
