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Robin Deffendall called it "the skilful unwrapping."
Millions of iPads, Kindles, Nooks and other electronic reading devices were stated as Christmas gifts last month and now, as neophyte e-readers of all ages try to figure out how to use their gleaming new tablets, hundreds of them are turning to the Cumberland County Library for steal.
Librarians are thrilled, but racing to keep up with demand for their services and for the limited figure up of e-books available for borrowing.
Free e-reader classes at the Cumberland County Headquarters Library on Maiden Lane had been seeing about 20 people, but since Christmas, sessions with 50 slots are stuffing up from waiting lists alone.
"It's huge," said Deffendall, one of the librarians tasked with keeping abreast of e-reader technology and giving classes.
Lately as huge is the surging demand for the North Carolina Digital Library's catalogue, which is so far restricted to just a few thousand titles. If you wanted to borrow Stieg Larsson's most successfully-selling "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" on Friday, you'd be 62nd on a waiting tabulation for one of the state's three digital copies.
Source: Fayetteville Observer