Answers.Body: <p>I can answer in regards to the Los Angeles City public libraries, and I suspect that many libraries in the United States use the same system. They have <a href="http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/e-media">a dedicated page explaining the e-media options available to their members.</a></p>
  
  <p>From this page it seems that there are quite a few companies/subcontracters that they use to handle the transfer of ebooks from the library to a subscriber's account/ereader  - <a href="http://btol.com/axis360/">Axis360</a>, <a href="http://www.overdrive.com/">Overdrive</a> and <a href="http://www.hoopladigital.com">Hoopla</a>, for example.</p>
  
  <p>There are more options listed on their e-media page, as well as links to other free, public resources like <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a>, <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/">Bartleby</a>, and <a href="http://infomotions.com/alex/">the Alex catalog of public texts</a> that don't require <a href="http://www.lapl.org/">LAPL</a> membership.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-04T16:22:19.907Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-01-04T16:22:19.907Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Eyal
Answers.Body: <p>If you own a Kindle e-reader AND if you pay the $79 annual fee for PRIME ("free" shipping) at amazon.com, you can make use of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. There are currently 476,987 titles in the Lending Library — each month you can check out one of these books. (This is how I read <em>Catching Fire</em>, book 2 of the Hunger Games trilogy, last year.)</p>
  
  <p>On the first of the next month, you can choose another book (you must first return the previous book). It's a definite benefit to owning a Kindle, though the number of well-known books (and authors) is limited.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-06T20:59:32.393Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-01-06T20:59:32.393Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Roger_S
Answers.Body: <p>It depends on your locale, as others said. A small library in Armpit, NW may not have that ability. New York Public Library (one of the premier ones) most certainly does:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><a href="http://ebooks.nypl.org/" rel="nofollow">http://ebooks.nypl.org/</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.nypl.org/ebooks" rel="nofollow">http://www.nypl.org/ebooks</a> - explains their book sources (including Overdrive - same as London - as well as TumbleBook, 3M Cloud etc..)</li>
  <li><a href="http://www.nypl.org/ask-nypl/ebookcentral" rel="nofollow">http://www.nypl.org/ask-nypl/ebookcentral</a></li>
  </ul>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-05T17:35:42.467Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-01-05T17:35:42.467Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: DVK
Answers.Body: <p>I live in the USA. Several places I've lived offer free access to ebooks from local libraries. A common way seems to be through using <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/digital-editions.html" rel="nofollow">Adobe Digital Editions</a>. This program does the following: </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>You pair it with your ebook-reading device on your local computer.</li>
  <li>The program checks the book out from the library in your name.</li>
  <li>The program puts it on your ebook-reading device, and deletes it once your borrowing time is up.</li>
  </ol>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-07T21:39:46.593Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-01-07T21:39:46.593Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jeffrey DeLeo
Answers.Body: <p>The <a href="https://multcolib.org/ebooks-and-downloadables" rel="nofollow">county library for Portland Oregon</a> offers Hoopla for streaming media as well as 3M Digital Library and Overdrive for ebooks.  But, then, we love our libraries!</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-10T01:56:00.970Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-01-10T01:56:00.970Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: K7AAY
Body: <p>I know Amazon has a program where, if you pay extra, you can borrow ebooks.  Just about everyone in the USA pays taxes to support their local Library.  Are there any programs that allow library books to be checked out, as ebooks?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-05T17:37:59.070Z
Comments.Text: "Just about everyone in the USA pays taxes to support their local Library" - for extremely small values of "just about everyone".
Comments.UserDisplayName: DVK
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-06T10:28:52.620Z
Comments.Text: In my opinion this answers to this question will be very localized (e.g. to US citizens or Canadians). I think it would be better to handle such questions in different questions for different countries. For example I think that there are a lot of libraries supporting Kindles in the USA, but in Germany libraries tend to lend epubs only...
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tim
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-31T19:06:48.973Z
Comments.Text: See related meta-discussion on country tags: http://meta.ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/165/should-we-add-region-tags
Comments.UserDisplayName: Chris W. Rea
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-31T19:10:09.650Z
Comments.Text: @ChrisW.Rea I just added the US tag, I see there is at least one answer with Canada in it.
Comments.UserDisplayName: James Jenkins
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-31T19:20:03.293Z
Comments.Text: @JamesJenkins: There are two answers for Canada and one for the UK as well. Perhaps this could be split into 3 questions. One for US, one for Canada and one for UK?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Jason Down
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-31T19:22:36.070Z
Comments.Text: @JasonDown if we split it can your magic powers move answers?
Comments.UserDisplayName: James Jenkins
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-31T19:25:02.813Z
Comments.Text: @JamesJenkins: Funny you ask. I just asked that question in the Teachers Lounge (moderator chat room)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Jason Down
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-31T19:33:21.410Z
Comments.Text: AFAIK, the only case in which an answer can be moved by a moderator, without direct intervention by Stack Exchange staff, is when two questions are *merged*, but in this case the egg needs to be *un*-scrambled. Individual contributors can be encouraged to re-post their answer where it's appropriate.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Chris W. Rea
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-31T19:35:58.497Z
Comments.Text: @JamesJenkins: Looks like you lose the rep and would need the upvotes reapplied manually on the replacement answer (which you'd have to re-enter on the new question).
Comments.UserDisplayName: Jason Down
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-01-31T19:40:27.363Z
Comments.Text: Lets talk about it here http://meta.ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/168/should-this-question-be-split
Comments.UserDisplayName: James Jenkins
Tags: <united-states><library><loan>
Title: Can I get an ebook from the library in the United States?
UserDisplayName: James Jenkins
ThreadText: # Can I get an ebook from the library in the United States?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-04)
  
  I know Amazon has a program where, if you pay extra, you can borrow ebooks. Just about everyone in the USA pays taxes to support their local Library. Are there any programs that allow library books to be checked out, as ebooks?
  
  **Tags:** united-states, library, loan
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: "Just about everyone in the USA pays taxes to support their local Library" - for extremely small values of "just about everyone".  
  > **username_2**: In my opinion this answers to this question will be very localized (e.g. to US citizens or Canadians). I think it would be better to handle such questions in different questions for different countries. For example I think that there are a lot of libraries supporting Kindles in the USA, but in Germany libraries tend to lend epubs only...  
  > **username_3**: See related meta-discussion on country tags: http://meta.ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/165/should-we-add-region-tags  
  > **username_0**: @username_3 I just added the US tag, I see there is at least one answer with Canada in it.  
  > **username_4**: @username_0: There are two answers for Canada and one for the UK as well. Perhaps this could be split into 3 questions. One for US, one for Canada and one for UK?  
  > **username_0**: @username_4 if we split it can your magic powers move answers?  
  > **username_4**: @username_0: Funny you ask. I just asked that question in the Teachers Lounge (moderator chat room)  
  > **username_3**: AFAIK, the only case in which an answer can be moved by a moderator, without direct intervention by Stack Exchange staff, is when two questions are *merged*, but in this case the egg needs to be *un*-scrambled. Individual contributors can be encouraged to re-post their answer where it's appropriate.  
  > **username_4**: @username_0: Looks like you lose the rep and would need the upvotes reapplied manually on the replacement answer (which you'd have to re-enter on the new question).  
  > **username_0**: Lets talk about it here http://meta.ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/168/should-this-question-be-split  
  
  ---
  
  ## 5 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2014-01-04. Score: 6
  
  I can answer in regards to the Los Angeles City public libraries, and I suspect that many libraries in the United States use the same system. They have [a dedicated page explaining the e-media options available to their members.](http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/e-media)
  
  From this page it seems that there are quite a few companies/subcontracters that they use to handle the transfer of ebooks from the library to a subscriber's account/ereader - [Axis360](http://btol.com/axis360/), [Overdrive](http://www.overdrive.com/) and [Hoopla](http://www.hoopladigital.com), for example.
  
  There are more options listed on their e-media page, as well as links to other free, public resources like [Project Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/), [Bartleby](http://www.bartleby.com/), and [the Alex catalog of public texts](http://infomotions.com/alex/) that don't require [LAPL](http://www.lapl.org/) membership.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2014-01-06. Score: 4
  
  If you own a Kindle e-reader AND if you pay the $79 annual fee for PRIME ("free" shipping) at amazon.com, you can make use of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. There are currently 476,987 titles in the Lending Library — each month you can check out one of these books. (This is how I read *Catching Fire*, book 2 of the Hunger Games trilogy, last year.)
  
  On the first of the next month, you can choose another book (you must first return the previous book). It's a definite benefit to owning a Kindle, though the number of well-known books (and authors) is limited.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2014-01-05. Score: 3
  
  It depends on your locale, as others said. A small library in Armpit, NW may not have that ability. New York Public Library (one of the premier ones) most certainly does:
  
  * <http://ebooks.nypl.org/>
  * <http://www.nypl.org/ebooks> - explains their book sources (including Overdrive - same as London - as well as TumbleBook, 3M Cloud etc..)
  * <http://www.nypl.org/ask-nypl/ebookcentral>
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2014-01-07. Score: 2
  
  I live in the USA. Several places I've lived offer free access to ebooks from local libraries. A common way seems to be through using [Adobe Digital Editions](http://www.adobe.com/products/digital-editions.html). This program does the following:
  
  1. You pair it with your ebook-reading device on your local computer.
  2. The program checks the book out from the library in your name.
  3. The program puts it on your ebook-reading device, and deletes it once your borrowing time is up.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2014-01-10. Score: 2
  
  The [county library for Portland Oregon](https://multcolib.org/ebooks-and-downloadables) offers Hoopla for streaming media as well as 3M Digital Library and Overdrive for ebooks. But, then, we love our libraries!
  
  
  ---
  
  