The holiday season may have been one reason the need for electronic books has risen around the region. In response to the growing demand for ebooks, the Escambia County Cooperative Library System has joined forces to make that service available for county residents.

Geri Albritton, director of ECCLS, says the availability of ebooks to county residents is now nearly unlimited and all free of charge.

“We have joined Camelia.net as a county system to be able to have ebooks available for our residents,” Albritton said. “By being a part of this consortium, there are over 15,000 books available to our patrons. Every book that is available from any library in Alabama is available for people right here in our county.”

Funded through the Escambia County Commission, the State of Alabama and local United Fund contributions, ECCLS serves all residents of the county with a variety of services, including their latest addition of the ebooks service.

“This service is a wonderful addition for our patrons,” Albritton said. “This service will be wonderful for our rural patrons and is a great addition for our Flomaton and Atmore patrons as well. Brewton Public Library had already been offering the program, but we wanted to make it available to everyone in the county.”

Albritton said the addition of the ebook program through ECCLS will not affect any patrons already a part of the program through the Brewton Public Library.

“Some patrons in Brewton may already be part of the Camelia.net lending program,” Albritton said. “That won’t change. Those patrons will continue to use the services of Camelia.net as they are doing already. However, if there are those who would like to be a part of the free lending program through Camelia.net in the rural areas around Brewton, we will be happy to get them registered and borrowing books.”
Atmore Public Library had not offered an online program prior to the Camelia.net service, but librarian Stephen Pettis said they are now offering the service along with Breaton and Flomaton.

Albritton said the process is easy with a simple registration to be eligible to download borrowed books to electronic devices.

“If getting to the local library is a problem or is inconvenient, we can register patrons for the service by mail,” Albritton said. “They can give me a call or send me an email with their address, and we can get the registration form to them and get them signed up as quickly as possible. We are happy that we have been able to join the consortium to offer more services to our county residents.”

Albritton said the ECCLS is a non-profit organization designed to serve residents of rural Escambia County as well as children and homebound residents throughout the communities.

Albritton said the ebook program would not have any impact on the Books-By-Mail program already being offered in the county.
To register for Camelia.net services through ECCLS, contact Albritton at 368-4130 or by email at escolib@frontiernet.net.