LISNews: Librarian News

Jen Young tells us that Booksfree.com provides a service similar to Netflix, but for books instead of DVDs. Users pay a flat monthly fee to rent a fixed number of paperback books, with no due dates or late fees. From the New York Times: But couldn't readers just go to a library?"You can't beat the price of the library," [Doug Ross, president and chief executive
] explained. "But we have the titles people want and the convenience for those who, for whatever reason, don't go to the library," for example, readers who are homebound or live in rural areas.Read the full NYT article. (free registration required, scroll down to "Rent a Book" header)

Yonan writes "The Project Gutenberg 'Best Of' CD contains a set of electronic books, or eBooks, from Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is one of the oldest all-electronic information providers on the Internet. Project Gutenberg is committed to producing freely available literature in multiple formats and languages and has more than 7000 titles available.

The eBooks on the CD consist mainly of text and HTML files, with a few movie files. As for any reading material, Project Gutenberg recommends that children receive guidance from adults in determining what books are appropriate for them.

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From the site:
"Swappingtons is more of a treasure chest than just a www site! Inside, you will find all sorts of books, CDs and DVDs that other folks own, but wish to swap away. The way it works is simple: You list items that you don't want, and someone will swap you for those items. When they swap you, they transfer swap points to your account, and you mail them the item in question. Once you have the points, you can go and spend them on other items that other folks list on the site."

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Not sure what RSS is? Check out RSS For Non-Techie Librarians By Steven M. Cohen.