This fall, the Keith Leftwich Memorial Library will allow students to check out electronic books, known as eBooks, as well as audio books and have them sent directly to their laptops, iPads, iPods or iPhones.

Students will be able to do this without coming to the library at all.

Beginning sometime in August, the library will launch a new eBook collection with the vendor Overdrive, said Library Services Director Barbara King.

The downloadable collection will focus on leisure reading, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as biographies, best-sellers and more, said Amanda Lemon, reference librarian.

Even though these books are checked out in an electronic format, they have to be returned, just like a paper version of a book.

A feature of the new system will include digital bookshelves where each downloaded eBook can be placed until it is returned, Lemon said. The number of copies of a book available for checkout varies, depending on the number of copies the library has purchased.

The new service will allow returns to be made online, instead of physically coming into the library to return the borrowed item. The electronic books will only be offered to students, faculty and staff, King said.

The new service will be just like checking out a regular book from the library, except instead of checking it out in person, a list of titles will be available online for students to check out and download.

By accessing library.occc.edu in the future, students will find a link to Overdrive that will allow them to browse the collection, then add titles to their shopping carts to eventually transfer to the personal e-devices.

“There will be around 9,000 to 10,000 scholarly titles to choose from … just like our physical collections,” King said.

Each eBook will check itself in automatically, one copy at a time, after it is returned.

OCCC student Michael Mollman said the eBook process will be convenient for him.

“I will be more likely to use it, since you don’t even have to worry about going to the library,” Mollman said.

King said people want digital libraries.

“We’re really excited about it,” she said.

For more information about eBooks or Overdrive, contact Lemon at 405-682-1611, ext. 7416, or e-mail alemon@occc.edu.