LANSING - NOVEMBER 8, 2004 - Thanks to a little hard work, imagination, and some enterprising librarians, Michigan residents from Grosse Pointe to Kalamazoo are downloading and reading popular eBook titles on their PCs and PDAs. Nine members of the Michigan Library Consortium (MLC) recently formed MLC Digital Libraries to provide their patrons with 24/7 access to digital materials at http://ebooks.mlcnet.org/. OverDrive, Inc., a leading digital book vendor, is supplying the technology for the service.

Randy Dykhuis, Executive Director, Michigan Library Consortium, stated, "We're proud that nine of our Public Library members have mobilized efforts and proactively joined together to allow their patrons easy, user-friendly access to popular eBooks. Their leadership brings innovative services to communities of all sizes."

The MLC Digital Libraries group represents a diverse mixture of rural and urban areas, including Ann Arbor District Library, Capital Area District Library, Grosse Pointe Public Library, Hastings Public Library, Herrick District Library, Kalamazoo Public Library, Kent District Library, Plymouth District Library, and Spring Lake District Library.

Susan Alt, lead organizer of the MLC Digital Libraries, said, "Using their library cards, patrons can check out and download a variety of popular fiction, self-help, business, and reference titles to their PCs, Pocket PCs, PDAs, and Smartphones. It's a wonderful opportunity for people to enjoy an eBook in their home, school, or office, and we expect to add OverDrive Digital Audio Books in the near future."

Hundreds of best-selling eBooks are available to patrons in Adobe and Mobipocket format. The service provides each library with a centralized online portal for collection development, order management, reporting, and much more. Each library also has the ability to upload and circulate their own digital materials.

Patrons of the participating libraries can go to http://ebooks.mlcnet.org to browse and download eBooks.