With a few clicks, and a library card, Charleston County residents can download free eBooks to their computers and portable devices right from Charleston County Public Library’s website.
CCPL offers more than 10,100 titles for download through the library’s OverDrive eBook catalog, including best sellers, new releases, children’s books and the classics. The library regularly adds new releases and popular titles to the collection.
Using free OverDrive and Adobe Digital downloadable software, the Library’s eBooks are compatible with the most common portable devices, including iPads, Kindles, Nooks and Sony Readers, plus they can be read on PCs and Macs. Residents can download four titles at a time and place hold requests on four items. 
Books are “checked out” for a maximum of 14 days, after which the electronic files automatically expire. If no one else has a hold request for the book, residents can check the book out for an additional 14 days. To download a book, patrons need to have a current CCPL Library card in good standing.
OverDrive is a full-service distributor of digital
content, including eBooks. The company provides downloadable digital content to 15,000 libraries worldwide. In 
addition to the downloadable eBooks, the library has online databases and talking storybooks for children. Sylvan Dell eBooks and TumbleBooks provide online books to help promote reading and language skills for children. The services provide read-along storybooks, games, quizzes and other activities. They also are available on the Library’s website by clicking the Download Books icon.
In the library’s online Reader’s Corner, patrons can sign up for NextReads e-newsletters based on their areas of interest. NextReads’s 19 e-newsletters profile recent releases and offer suggestions based on the subject, such as science fiction, business and personal finance, popular culture and historical fiction.
In addition to these reader services, CCPL offers nearly 90 research databases, with most available remotely on the Internet. The databases include DISCUS sources and cover topics including history, genealogy, finance and investing, legal forms, career and job assistance, literature and science.
To learn about all the online offerings, call Charleston County Public Library at 805-6930 or send an email to askaquestion@ccpl.org.
-Submitted by Maggie Mohr, Public Relations and Marketing Specialist, CCPL, with Phyllis Harper, Tidelines Editor