The electronic books are part of a pilot program gauging reaction to the computerized books. They come in two sizes, are back-lit, and you can change the size of the font.

For kids, the library offers LeapPads, large interactive holders with interchangeable books targeted for preschoolers through sixth-graders.

"We're the only library circulating these in this area," library Director Kara Lustiber said. Members of other libraries may borrow them, but must come to the Clover Street library to sign them out.

A "big part" of the reason that the library - serving 4,000 taxpayers and with about 2,000 cardholders - got the go-ahead for the eBooks was a $1,200 donation from the family of library board President Shirley Krembs that matched a grant from the Mid-Hudson Library System, which is sponsoring the experimental program.

"I've had people who love them and people who hate them," Lustiber said of the eBooks, made by RCA. "One of the favorite comments I've heard about them is that, because they're back-lit, you can sit in bed reading while your husband's asleep without disturbing him."

The larger eBook weighs about 5 pounds and the smaller about 2 pounds. The larger compact reader contains about 35 books on a single computer card, while the smaller holds about five books. Both have automatic bookmarks to save places if the reader chooses to browse from one book to another, and both contain dictionaries at the push of a button or two.

"You can even use the 'find' function to refer back to the first time a character appears in the book," Lustiber said. Not a bad feature if you're reading "War and Peace."

The large eBook has been borrowed about 16 times in the past year, while the smaller has gone out a dozen times or so, Lustiber said.

Those numbers aren't growing, but the LeapPads, put out by LeapFrog, are growing by, well, leaps and bounds. There's only one at the library so far, but Lustiber plans to order five more. One will be donated to the West Hurley Elementary School down the street, one will remain at the library, and four will circulate.

The LeapPad books talk, spelling or sounding out a word the child touches with a pointer. Touch a part of the human skeleton and the book will tell you the name of the bone. Interactive games teach geography, and the list goes on.

"A lot of people already own the LeapPad, so they just come and get the books," Lustiber said. In fact, that's what she'd like to do with the eBooks as well: just lend out the computer cards rather than the entire eBook unit.

"It's like the days when libraries used to loan out VCRs, and now people just borrow the tapes," she said. "There's a lot of work involved in loading up the books, making sure they work properly and showing patrons how to use it. We prefer to be in the business of loaning content, not services."

The patrons who borrow the readers sign waivers taking responsibility if they're damaged. The larger eBook costs about $700, the smaller one, $300. "You'd be more inclined to read a paperback in your bathtub than one of these," Lustiber said.

Joshua Cohen, executive director of the Mid-Hudson Library System, agreed the eBook technology has a way to go: "There are still a few different formats for viewers, and the resolution on the screens still needs some work. Still, they have great potential."

Barbara Kalleberg of West Hurley, a retired teacher, sees the destiny of eBooks in academia. "Instead of hauling around heavy textbooks, students could program all their texts into eBooks," she said. "It's the wave of the future."

She said her husband Kal swears by them. "Friends of ours are sailing around the world and are taking 35 books with them," she said. "Kal said they could have put them all on one eBook and saved themselves all that space."