FOR many people summer holidays are a time to catch up on the things you love to do but never get the time, such as reading a good book.
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However, for more and more people, that traditional book with a cover and pages is becoming an e-book.
At the end of 2013 LINC Tasmania had 10,000 e-books and e-audio books available and since 2010 they had been borrowed 160,000 times.
Alan King, of South Launceston, has been an avid e-book reader since 2010 when the LINC first offered the service, and uses his android phone as his device of choice.
He reads mainly journal articles and has also read a few larger e-books, but he hasn't turned away from the paper version altogether.
"I'm sure there are people who read e-books exclusively and generally if there's a book I want to read as soon as I can, sometimes it's quicker to get an e-book than the hard copy," Mr King said.
"It's also really great if I'm travelling because I don't need to carry a separate book around, just my phone.
"Given the choice of a hard paper book or e-book though, I would still probably choose the paper book, but with the convenience of e-books and the fact you can have 1000 in your pocket, I'm certainly not going to give it up."
LINC Launceston manager Garry Conroy- Cooper said the e-books on offer catered for all age groups. Interestingly, the most popular genres were romance, followed by mystery, thriller, traditional fiction and historical fiction.
Mr Conroy-Cooper said one of the biggest advantages about borrowing e-books was that it was a 24-hour service that gave borrowers access to their titles from anywhere.
There was also no need to worry about returning them late, as e-books just disappear from your screen once the three- week borrowing period is up.
- ROSITA GALLASCH
