Bundaberg Regional Library members are now able to access tens of thousands of eBook titles through the recent addition of a cloudLink service.
In conjunction with Sunshine Coast Libraries, Bundaberg Regional Libraries is a founding member of the eBook sharing platform in Queensland.
cloudLink is a service that allows libraries to share their eBook collections.
There are currently around 20,000 copies in the shared collection, much more than what would be available to Bundaberg residents if the partnership did not exist.
All the titles that are shared across both libraries are available for members to access.
Council’s Arts, Culture and Events portfolio spokesperson Cr John Learmonth said cloudLink provided library members with a great opportunity to access a large range of titles.
“This service is a fantastic initiative from the libraries team and a great resource for those who love to read,” Cr Learmonth said.
“Our members can place holds on books and access thousands of books they otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”
Patrons from each library can access available content from within the collection, however, can only reserve material owned by their own library service.
Adrian Franco from the cloudLink service said the program had been very popular with users throughout the region.
“cloudLink has proven to drive circulation and usage by providing patrons with a great digital content borrowing experience,” Adrian said.
“Since joining the Queensland cloudLink Group at the beginning of March 2022, there has been 239 additional checkouts by Bundaberg library patrons on titles from cloudLinked collections as of this week.
“We can see the cloudLink system has been effective within weeks, as Bundaberg patrons are discovering more content.”
cloudLink has also proven to reduce holds and hold times, as patrons may be able to access copies of trending titles faster.
Adrian said the cloudLink service is a great offering for libraries to have to continue to meet the needs of their patrons.
“cloudLink is a great service for libraries, and it’s great seeing libraries collaborating and sharing their digital collections, providing a better borrowing experience for patrons across all member libraries,” he said.
“When library patrons have a great digital borrowing experience via cloudLibrary, they will continue coming back to the library to utilise the service.”
You can find out more about the service here.
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