According to a story in yesterday’s Navy Times, the Navy Library Service (who even knew there was such a thing?) is currently in the process of  “working to put e-library systems on ships, allowing sailors to choose from thousands of digital books to read while at sea.”

“This is a challenge,” the story continues, “because limited bandwidth on surface ships and the complete lack of it on submarines prevents seamless e-book downloads while at sea.”

Bids will soon be solicited from companies that provide e-library services to large-scale organizations. Once a service provider is chosen, a test run “tentatively scheduled for next spring” will take place aboard four different ships and one submarine.

No word yet on which specific e-reading device(s) the ships and subs will provide to sailors, although tablets will probably be ruled out due to security concerns involving cameras and the ability to access Wi-Fi networks.

{ Navy Times: E-book library for leisure reading at sea }

 

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