Books at the Mall (National Mall, that is...)

This past weekend, I had the privilege of going, once again, to the National Book Festival in Washington, DC. What did I see? TONS of people and TONS of books! There were several well-known authors on site… Nicholas Sparks, Judy Blume, John Grisham, Walter Mosley, Ken Burns, Steven Kellogg, James Patterson, and Paula Deen – just to name a few.

In addition to the authors, there were countless big name sponsors to promote literacy in education. Although most sponsors were impressive in their literacy messages… The Digital BookMobile caught my eye!

Powered by OverDrive, The Digital BookMobile is quite similar to the bookmobile I remember as a child. It was quite cool to see the bookmobile pull up outside the school with “special” books the library did not have. The bookmobile can still drive up to your school… but, technology now replaces the standard book shelves and displays. According to their website, “the vehicle is equipped with broadband Internet-connected PCs, high-definition monitors, premium sound systems, and a variety of portable media players. Interactive computer stations give visitors an opportunity to search the digital media collection, use supported mobile devices, and sample eBooks, audio books, music, and video from the library.”

Now… if the bookmobile is not scheduled to stop at your school or in your county, what do you do? Simple. You visit the Forsyth County Library website to still gain access to those same eBooks, music and videos! Step by step guidelines and instructions are on the site to give you the ins and outs for getting started.

Take the tour to begin using ebooks in your classroom!

What is on your virtual bookshelf?

Reading. The gateway to knowledge. Magazines. Newspapers. Journals. Books. All common sources for finding the information and wisdom you hope to gain. All of those options are now literally at your fingertips.

Check out these sites offering free (complete text) ebooks...

http://www.free-ebooks.net/

http://pdfbooks.co.za/

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

ebooks – Just for kids…

http://www.magickeys.com/books/

http://storynory.com/

Robert Munsch

Children’s Classics

Want to listen instead? Try these sites for free audio books!

http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/home

http://librivox.org/

Need books for your PDA or Mobile Phone? Take a look at these.

http://www.feedbooks.com/

http://manybooks.net/

Interested in ONLY computer books? Here are some sites to get you started.

http://freecomputerbooks.com/

http://www.freetechbooks.com/

Don’t have time to search site after site for a certain book topic? Try http://www.pdfgeni.com/. It is a search engine for pdf books and all types of publications! Simply type in the subject of the book you need and then choose from the long, long list that is returned. Now, be sure you check out the originating source and stay in compliance with ALL copyrights issued on your finds.

Remember... copyright matters, regardless of the ebook source!

Happy Reading. You now have a virtual bookshelf. Library card optional.