If late return fees have always put you off getting books from the library, the Central Pennsylvania Library District have found the answer. Members of their library need not worry about returning any books late, or losing them, or even having to make up an excuse such as their dog has eaten them. The reason is that Pennsylvania’s library is offering books on MP3 for patrons to take away with them on their MP3 players.

The audio books are downloadable from their website, and are completely free. The free MP3 books come in both fiction and non fiction titles, and are available from http://digitallibrary.centralpalibraries.org.

This means that the books can be listened to on computers, MP3 players or even burnt onto CDs.

The director of the Schlow Centre Region library, Betsy Allen, said:

We’re very excited about this service. We think this is a wonderfully modern and helpful service that people will embrace.

Members need to download the OverDrive Media Console program that allows them to access the audio books from the website, and they do also need to have a valid library card.

There are currently 200 titles available for download, including fiction titles in the thriller and romance genres.