Scarborough Library launches 'cloud' collection

Standing beside the Scarborough Public Library’s new 3M
 Cloud Collection terminal are Library Director Nancy Crowell,
left, and Assistant Director Susan Winch, who also is project
facilitator for the new e-lending initiative, set to be unveiled to
the public Oct. 19.

SCARBOROUGH — The Scarborough Public Library is set to launch a first-in-Maine electronic lending library now available at only 72 sites in the nation.

The innovative 3M Cloud Library Collection, which allows cardholders to download popular book titles to multiple electronic devices, will be unveiled at a special event at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, at the library.

“The premise behind this is, it’s eye-catching,” said Assistant Library Director Susan Winch of the 3M terminal kiosk, which will be on display near the library’s card catalog. “It features the collection on a profile like shelves, so that people walking by may be inclined to browse it, or log in using their library card."

Unlike the Maine InfoNet Download Library, a statewide digital service available to Scarborough residents through their local library, items in new collection will be selected by library staffers in direct response to the interests of town cardholders.

“It’s ours,” said Library Director Nancy Crowell. “This is specifically for Scarborough residents and we get to select the titles. We can set our own lending policies with this. We don’t have to be bound by what the state consortium says we have to abide by. And, for those people who do not have the capacity to buy a reader, we can make sure the collection is available to them as well.”

“That’s important to us,” agreed Winch. “If we are going to offer a particular kind of service, we want it to be accessible by everyone in the community.”

The service will launch with about 300 fiction and nonfiction titles, downloadable for three-week lending periods onto PCs, Macs, iPads and Androids using the ePUB format. They also can be “sideloaded” onto Kindle Fire devices, said Winch. When the service is launched, Crowell said, library patrons will be able to download two books at a time, with a third placed on hold.

“Another great advantage of this system, because of the Cloud, is that I can download a book onto my iPad, and then leave the house and pick up reading right were I left off on my iPhone or iPod Touch,” said Winch.

The first wave of ebooks and five 3M readers were purchased using $5,000 included in this year’s library budget by the Town Council.

“We’re hoping the business community and others will help us out by offering contributions to make it possible to continually add new titles,” said Winch.

According to Crowell, the system is set up so that library employees cannot track what patrons check out for titles.  Anyone with a Scarborough library card can log in by scanning the card at the in-library kiosk, or punching in the bar code number on their computer or mobile device. After confirming there are no outstanding late fees, the system collects no further information on individual users.

“At launch, there is only one title that we will have multiple copies of, to reduce waiting times,” said Winch. “I bet if you really, really thought about it you could guess which title that is.”

Hint: It’s "50 Shades of Grey," which, Winch said, has been as much a hit at the Scarborough library as it has been everywhere else of late.

The only drawback to the hold list is that, because the library will not track usage, it will have no way to notify users when a title placed on hold becomes available. Users will have to log into the system periodically to check on their status.

However, users can share information on what titles they’d like added to Scarborough’s collection by adding anything from the 3M network to a “wish list.” The library will collect that data on an aggregate level, along with information on what books receive the most downloads, total.

“That way, the librarians making purchasing decisions can look and see how many times a particular title has been requested,” said Crowell. “That will help us in customizing the collection to the particular needs and desires of the community.”

A CLOSER LOOK

The launch of Scarborough’s Cloud Library Collection is set for 10:30 a.m., on Friday, Oct. 19, at the Scarborough Public Library. Staff will be available throughout the day to help patrons learn how to use the system on various mobile devices. The library will also have “how to” videos and written instructions available on its website.

Also, all current and new Scarborough Public Library cardholders who visit the library Oct. 19-21 can enter to win a 3M eReader. The winner will be notified on Oct. 22.