Reading List Titles on World Book eBooks

It happens all the time.  The phone rings and the voice on the other end asks the question, “Do you have the book …?”  If it’s a school reading list title, often we have to respond, “No, but we can put it on reserve for you.”   

Now, in addition to our downloadable eBook collection, there is another place you can search for reading list titles online.  Birmingham Public Library provides a database called World Book eBooks.  The database offers a lot more than classic novels and it’s a great place to look if you have a school reading assignment.  Along with novels, you will find other reading assignments such as Shakespeare's plays, Greek drama, and epic poetry.  World Book is continuing to expand the database, so if you don’t find a book immediately, check back in the future.

When using the database, you can either do a keyword search for your title (e.g. Ethan Frome) or choose one of the categories under the Fiction & Literature or Drama subject headings in the left-hand column.  Popular reading list titles include:

A great benefit of using the database is that you are not checking out the title.  There is no due date to worry about.  You can read the book online at your leisure.  In addition, you can highlight the text, make notes, and bookmark pages.  Setting up an account allows you to save your highlights, notes, and bookmarks.  It also allows you to download the book to a supported device to read offline.  Take some time to browse the World Book eBooks database.  You may be amazed at what you find.