Open Book: How to Transfer a Library e-book to Your NOOK

While I do not consider myself a tech person, I am not a newbie either.  However, when I first tried to transfer a library e-book to my NOOK,  I was having some difficulty.  I looked on the Barnes and Noble website, the library website, called BN and my local library.  Everyone was  helpful, but not quite enough. So, I thought if I was having issues, others must  too. 

The problem I found was that BN’s emphasis was not in downloading free or  borrowed  books.  They want to get you to buy a BN book, so their explanation of transferring a library book was glossed over.  “Oh, it’s just like buying a book,” the BN woman said. 

 “Not quite,” I thought as I scrolled and clicked on the NOOK menu screen.  I then went to the library for help.  The librarians were gracious, but didn’t really understand the process themselves.  Obviously, they were still reading hard texts.

I won’t bore you with my errors, but I finally succeeded.  The instructions on how to transfer a library e-book to your NOOK are as follows:

The Set Up

1. On your computer, go to your library online.  Click on the tab or icon that will open up the ebook library selections. 
2. The library page will have a login icon/hyperlink that will bring you to the login page.  If you haven’t already registered, you will need to do this before anything else.
3. Then, view the library ebook  choices at the library site.  The library site  may provide you a link to another site or take you there directly.  My library site took my to “Maryland’s Digital eLibrary Consortium.”
4. Pick a book that is either in a pdf or epub format.   Add it to your cart (look for a link near your book selection).
5.  Click on “Proceed to checkout.”  In Maryland you can only borrow 4 books total at any time. Borrowing library ebooks are usually for two weeks.  There are waiting lists.  My screen then shows the book, the lending period and the devices the book will transfer to.  Click “confirm” to checkout.
6. When you checkout, another box will ask if you downloaded Adobe Digital Editions on to your computer.  You need to do download this software to acquire the book.  Follow directions to do so.

The Transfer

1.  You can now transfer the book.  Under the image of the ebook, click the “download” button.
2.  Click open and the epub/pdf will transfer to the Adobe Digital Editions software on your computer.
3.  When you open the Adobe Digital Editions on your desktop, you should see the image of the ebook you borrowed.  If not, you need to authorize the computer you are using.  To Authorize: In Adobe Digital Editions, click on the drop down menu Library.  Chose Authorize Computer.  All it wants is a valid email address (The same one that you used when you downloaded the software).
4.  Connect your NOOK to your computer.  You will then see that your  NOOK will show up on the left side of the Adobe Digital Editions under Bookshelves.
5.  Drag and drop the ebook on to the NOOK at the left.  Wait a few seconds for transfer.
6.  Then, disconnect your NOOK from your computer by clicking on the safe removal tool at the bottom of screen in the navigation bar.
7. Check to see that your NOOK has the ebook transfer. 

This seems like lots of instructions, but if you do it once, the process will seem effortless going forward.

One nice thing is that you can now read the book at your computer or on your NOOK.  Happy reading.

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