3td for e-BOOK library - 2 years Publicēts: 7.01.2021
In the first days of the new year - 2021 - the second anniversary of its existence is celebrated by the popular 3td e-BOOK library (on the website www.3td.lv), which has gained great popularity in a relatively short time and gained a certain place in the range of book and library services. for one of the largest public libraries in Latvia. The e-book reading platform operated by the Cultural Information Systems Center (KISC) currently offers almost half a thousand e-books in Latvian free of charge with state support, provided by four publishers - Zvaigzne ABC, Apgāds Mansards, Prometejs and "Latvian Media".
The interest of the readers is based on the wide offer of e-books on various topics and the user-friendly technological solution of the platform, which is taken care of by the IT company “TietoEVRY in Latvia”. According to data collected by KISC, the e-BOOK library has reached almost 12,500 readers in 2 years, with a total of more than 60,000 e-books distributed and almost 27 million electronic pages. In addition, in 2020, the 3td e-BOOK library received the award of the Latvian Librarians' Association in the nomination “Event of the Year in Latvian Libraries 2019”, in which the winner was determined by the general vote of the librarians themselves.
The platform "3td e-BOOK Library" has grown and improved both in terms of content supply and technological improvements. The volume of books in the 3td library is regularly updated every week and has increased almost five times since January 2019. Based on readers' requests and suggestions, the 3td library currently provides technical features such as customizable color modes, bookmarks, and the ability to resize fonts for easy reading. The reader can also "navigate" the contents of the book using the progress bar indicator.
In two years, the 3td e-BOOK library has improved the procedure for publishing books - if initially the e-book could be removed for reading only once for two weeks, now it can be done again for a period of two weeks, thus allowing a more busy reader to get acquainted with more more complex literary work. On the other hand, readers who devote themselves to the reading process very intensively are offered the opportunity to read up to 18 e-books per month. All available books can be read by an unlimited number of users at a time without waiting in line.
It should be noted that the rapid growth of e-book readers has also been fueled by the repeated announcement of an emergency situation during the closure of Covid-19, during which public libraries have been closed, thus preventing readers from receiving books in person. However, access to the 3td library on a smart device or computer is provided to anyone from anywhere, wherever an Internet connection is available. Therefore, this is one of the resources recommended by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia within the information campaign # Building Culture, so that during the emergency the population can continue to receive quality cultural services.
To become a reader of the “3td e-BOOK Library”, you must be a user of a Latvian municipal public library, and with the authorization data (username and password) of the public library e-catalog, you must register on the website www.3td.lv. For potential readers who are not yet users of a Latvian municipal public library or who have not yet used authorization data, many libraries offer to register and become users remotely by e-mail or by calling their nearest library during an emergency. It should be noted that almost a fifth (17%) of the readers registered in municipal public libraries in the past two years have registered precisely in order to create access to the 3td e-BOOK library, because at that time they had not used other library services.
The information was prepared by:
Without Elsberg,
Cultural Information Systems Center
assistant project manager,
Tel. 67844902
E-mail: ilma.elsberga@kis.gov.lv
