by Emily Darrell
Staff Writer

E-readers— including Nooks, Kindles, and Sony Readers – were one of the most popular gift items this past holiday season, and since Christmas the Powhatan Public Library has seen a surge in readers coming to check out eBooks, says library director Peggy Martin.
The Powhatan Library began offering eBooks last winter and now has around 5,000 titles – in both eBook and eAudiobook format – available for checkout. Between January 1 and January 12, Powhatan Library patrons checked out a total of 93 eBooks and 38 eAudiobooks.

Like a traditional paper book, library patrons get an eBook for a period of two weeks, which they may then renew if no one else is waiting for the title. Unlike a paper book, however, readers cannot be fined for an eBook; at the end of the checkout period the software that enables an eBook to work simply stops working.

The library’s collection of eBooks “is growing all the time,” Martin said, adding that the library always welcomes suggestions for new titles.

Nora Roberts’ “Chasing Fire,” James Patterson’s “The Angel Experiment,” and Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” were among the most popular eBooks checked out from the Powhatan Library over the past year.