NetLibrary

I have not used NetLibrary in quite a while, so this exercise was a good refresher. I like that it displays a summary for each title. That could help me to decide whether or not I want to view the book. I tried a "for Dummies" search and sorted the results to see newest publication first. The most recent "--for Dummies" title is copyright 2006. That doesn't seem very up to date at all. So that's a little disappointing. My results also included books that are not in the "--for Dummies" series. It looks like, although I chose to do a title search, netLibrary also searches the descriptions. That seems a little strange.

When I choose to view all of the e-books available via OCL, I see that about 3,500 titles are available. The most recent publication date is 2007 - not very current.

I like the fact that you don't need to check books out anymore to view them. Also, the ability to add titles to my own Favorites is a plus. I can also add notes! These are very nice features. I printed 8 or 9 pages from the book I viewed without any trouble as well.

On the whole, I have found this product has improved since the last time I tried it. I still found online viewing to be somewhat disjointed. It just doesn't feel like book reading. The information seems to have less weight and depth somehow. It lacks some elemental sensory experience that I associate with reading a book.