Although eBook sales aren't a match for traditional paperback and hard cover book sales, they are on the rise.

Back in July, the Open eBook Forum—the standards association for the eBook industry—reported that retailers sold 46 percent more eBooks during the first quarter of 2004 than the same period a year earlier. Revenues increased by 28 percent to $3,233,220.

You don't have to purchase an eBook for your desktop computer, PDA or smartphone, however, to take part in this emerging trend. You can now borrow eBooks from your local library.

One company that mobilizes library book collections is OverDrive.

With OverDrive's Digital Library System, local libraries can serve eBooks to patrons remotely from their websites. As a result, they can checkout and return eBook titles as if they were doing so for paper-based books at the local branch.

The latest library system to sign-up for OverDrive's eBook lending library is the Las Vegas-Clark county district in Nevada. With its eBook lending system, patrons use a valid library card to check out and download eBooks and other digital media.

At the end of the loan period, eBooks are automatically returned. In essence, a digital rights management system makes the eBook unreadable after a certain period, unless—of course—you check the eBook out again.

District Executive Director Dan Walters said "High-speed Internet connections are being built into almost every new home in Clark County. This allows us to deliver library services online, including eBooks and digital audio books. This is both efficient and convenient."

The Las Vegas-Clark county district collection includes fiction and non-fiction bestsellers and classics from popular authors and leading publishers.

Formats
In its recent survey of the most borrowed eBooks, OverDrive found that PDF—read using popular Adobe Reader software—is the overwhelming format of choice for patrons and students while MobiPocket Reader is gaining ground among PDA and Smartphone users.