The Glendale library system will begin offering a new service on Monday, July 9th. Library patrons can now borrow preloaded Nook eBook readers.

Glendale’s libraries now have 30 Nooks preloaded with eBooks that have titles for youth, teen, and adult. Also preloaded are two books in Spanish. With this program, users have a way to try out an eReader and eBooks before actually purchasing one of their own. Each of Glendale’s three libraries will have 10 Nooks available. The Nook is Barnes and Nobles’ brand of mobile electronic reading device and is touted as very light and having a good reading screen and long battery life.

Patrons interested in borrowing one of the eReaders will need to be a Glendale Public Library card holder in good standing, 18 and over, and will need to provide current photo identification at checkout. The Nooks may be borrowed for four weeks with no renewal option.

The Nooks come preloaded so that library users could have the best experience with the eBooks and eReaders. During a pilot program last year in Councilmember Joyce Clark’s district, feedback received included the inability to read or finish popular best sellers due to long “on hold” lists to download them. By the time many were able to download the eBook, the eReader was due back at the library. With the new program, users don’t experience frustration with downloading and can start reading immediately.

“The Glendale libraries are helping to bridge the digital divide, in which library users can become confident in their ability to keep up with rapidly changing technologies,” said Chief Librarian Cheryl Kennedy. “In today’s technology savvy world, digital literacy is a crucial skill for citizens of all ages and backgrounds. We are devoted to increasing access to information and recreational reading in all formats.”

The Nooks were provided through donations and grant money. Clark donated six Nooks to the Velma Teague Branch Library. Councilmember Yvonne Knaack donated $1,800 to purchase 12 more, and another 12 were purchased through a grant.

Titles on the preloaded Nooks include the children’s books Giver by Lois Lowry and Lightning Thief by Rick Riorda, and teen books, The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins and Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer. There are 25 classic books and novels such as Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice, and the currently popular adult books The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Next Always by Nora Roberts, Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Rescue by Nicholas Sparks, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, 11th Hour by James Patterson, Innocent by David Baldacci, Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, and Fiddler by Beverly Lewis.