Tauranga City Libraries' eBook collection is available from today in an online catalogue.

'We launched at the end of last year, but that was a soft launch just so that we could iron out any technical difficulties – so that has gone well and officially we are launching it today,” says libraries collections and information manager Smita Biswas.

Tauranga City Libraries staff hold up their eBook reading devices.

'We have a total of 1300 titles of which about 1000 titles are what you would call classics.

'There could be a few among them that are out of print and copyright free, so they are free to our borrowers.

'With the free ones I think there is no limit, but with the pay ones it disappears after two weeks, which means you don't have to worry about it becoming overdue or paying an overdue fine, so yes it is very convenient.”

There have been 77 issues over the holiday period, says Smita.

Over the last four or five months of last year, since the eBook project was announced, the library has received many calls from customers.

'Over Christmas many people have new a iPhone, iPad, or other eBook reader, so I expect once people know about it there should be a good amount of traffic.”

The eBook collection will expand as use increases.

With eBooks available online, the library doesn't have to be open for customers to access the collection.

Library members can go online 24-7 to download eBooks onto their device.

eBooks will stay on the device for two weeks and will then be automatically removed.

The library is offering 1000 titles for free, with other titles available for $2 for two weeks. 'In most cases eBooks can be cheaper to purchase than their paper counterparts (usually between $10-20), but borrowing one for only $2 – or in some cases free – is an even more economical way to go” says Smita.