Lancashire Libraries's List: Reading eBooks

Here you'll find a collection of handy guides we've created to help you get the most out of the eBooks and Audio books available to borrow from our download library, whether you use a PC, eReader, iPad, smart phone or other portable device.

Lancashire libraries have opened a new branch...a virtual one. At our Download library, you can borrow eBooks and Audio books for free from our collection. The process is easy but will require you to download and install some software on to your computer.

You will need to download this free software on your computer to be able to download and manage eBooks you have borrowed from Lancashire Libraries Download Library. The download requires registration (free) of your email address and a password.

Calibre is a free software package that when downloaded and installed on your computer enables you to manage your eBook collection, easily transfer eBooks to your mobile device (eBook reader, tablet or phone) and convert books from one eBook format to another* to ensure compatibility with your device. It also includes an eBook viewer for reading books on your computer. *Note: calibre will not convert 'protected' eBooks, such as loaned library books.

The Internet Archive Text Archive contains a wide range of fiction, popular books, children's books, historical texts and academic books. These ebooks may be downloaded in a wide variety of formats. This collection is open to the community for the contribution of any type of text, many licensed using Creative Commons licenses.

Feedbooks offers a wide range of ebooks, many of them available to download for free in a number of different formats compatible with a wide range of mobile devices and eReaders

The Online Books Page is a website that provides links to books, mainly non-fiction and academic, that are freely available over the Internet, including older ebooks (pre-1923) and newer ebooks made available to the public domain.

Just Free Books is specialised search engine which searches the internet to find only free ebooks. Note: The search results cannot guarantee that these books are copyright free and legal to download. You should satisfy yourself that the site is legitimate and the copy legal before downloading.

The Many Books site offers a large number of novels and classics which can be downloaded in a wide variety of formats or read online. The site also has reviews of books and eReaders

Wikisource is an online library of free content publications, collected and maintained by the wiki community and has over 750,00 texts in the English language library. These can be read online or downloaded as PDFs

Open Library is a project of the non-profit Internet Archive and aims to catalogue the world's books. The site also offers thousands of free ebooks and a new eBook borrowing service. Registration (free) is required.

Science Books Online is a directory of free science texts, e-books, monographs, lecture notes, and other science related documents. All texts are available for free access, authorized by their respective authors or publishers.

On Bookboon you can download free online textbooks. All our books are available in PDF and you can download them directly without registration. The textbooks are legal and written exclusively for Bookboon by academics from different European universities.

The WPL contains more two million literature and non-fiction eBooks that can be accessed for an annual fee

The WPL contains more than 500,000 eBooks and edocuments, and many of these are free all year round. During their World eBook Fair (from July 4 to August 4) they offer even more free eBooks. If you need year-round access, you can join for a small yearly fee: $ 8.95 USD per year, or only $ 2 USD per year for students. 

The Internet Archive Text Archive contains a wide range of fiction, popular books, children's books, historical texts and academic books. These eBooks may be freely downloaded in a wide variety of formats. This collection is open to the community for the contribution of any type of text, many licensed using Creative Commons licenses. 

This site is the oldest producer of e-books on the web. There are over 20,000 older works which are free of copyright and so are freely available. 

This site provides free downloads (registration is required) of a wide variety of ebooks both Fiction and Non-fiction. Much of the available content has been submitted directly by authors. Note: eBooks are only available to read online or download in PDF format. To obtain these eBooks in specialised formats requires an upgrade to a paid account.

The University of Adelaide provides this site which offers a wide range of eBooks released under a Creative Commons License or that are Public Domain in Australia (according to their Copyright Law). The books can be downloaded free in ePub or Kindle format or read online. The eBooks@Adelaide online reader provides a very clear and easy to use reading interface.

Open Library is a project of the non-profit Internet Archive. It includes a Lending Library from where, once registered, you can borrow up to five eBooks for a two week period. These can be read in your browser or downloaded (Adobe Digital Editions required) to a PC and transferred to an eReader.