One source that can be surprisingly helpful at the reference
desk (and is great in any event) is the Project Gutenberg
(http://www.gutenberg.org/) site.
Project Gutenberg makes free ebooks available for download. They are free because they are out of
copyright. This has proven extremely
useful on a number of occasions because the classic titles that are the focus
of school assignments are often out of copyright. I can’t remember the number of times I’ve had a student in the
library, the night before they needed the book, looking for a title that was
checked out. Since they needed if for
the next day (take the lecture about procrastination as a given) it was too
late to see about getting a copy from another library. In this case I always check for the book on
Project Gutenberg and (if it’s there) show the student how to access and read
the title either on their computer or on their ereader. The site has saved the bacon of many a
student.
We are a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library located in Highland Park. Keep yourself updated on our doings here...
