eBooks & eAudiobooks
Free, on demand, self-directed education at your fingertips.
Howard County Library System (HCLS) offers free access to eBooks, eAudiobooks and eMagazines. The following services are FREE to library cardholders:
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eContent for Kids Howard County Library System’s eBooks for kids combine educational games, videos, and interactive books for engaging experiences for children from pre-K through high school. |
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OverDrive / Libby (Maryland’s Digital eLibrary Consortium) Download eBooks, eAudiobooks, or eMagazines to your computer, tablet, Kindle, or smartphone. Use OverDrive’s website to send eBooks to your Kindle, or use Libby, the free mobile app, to borrow and read instantly on your mobile device. Libby is available in the iTunes App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft. Borrowing limit of 10 titles at a time and place up to 10 holds at a time. Lending period up to 21 days. Note: If your library card is replaced, OverDrive holds linked to your old library card will not be available on your new card. To request that your holds be moved from an old card to a new card, please use this form on Maryland’s Digital eLibrary Consortium Customer Support Page. Select “Account – Holds” as the issue and include both new and old library card barcodes in the description. You do not need to fill in anything after the Question or Description of Problem field. OverDrive Support will respond within a day or so. |
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cloudLibrary Use the free cloudLibrary app to browse, check out, download and read popular best-selling eBooks or listen to eAudiobooks. Not compatible with Kindle Paperwhite eReaders. Borrowing limit of 8 titles, loan period of 21 days. |
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hoopla Stream and temporarily download movies, television shows, music albums and audiobooks from major Hollywood studios, record companies and publishers. Follow the “Sign Up” instructions to begin and then “Sign In” on subsequent visits. Not compatible with Kindle Paperwhite eReaders. No holds lists and borrowing limit of 10 titles per calendar month. Lending period depends on format. |
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Project Gutenberg A digital library of more than 50,000 free eBooks, including many classic titles in epub and Kindle formats. Download eBooks to a device or read them online. |
For additional assistance with electronic books and audiobooks:
- One-on-One Sessions: HCLS Instructors at all branches now offer one-on-one instruction on how to use the Library’s econtent resources. To schedule a session, call your local branch or fill out our online form.
- Upcoming eReader classes
