Timberland Regional Library (TRL) is offering readers a new service: a wide selection of email newsletters about books, authors and the library. The free service, TRL Great Reads E-Newsletters, is available now. It provides a convenient way for people to find out about recently published fiction, nonfiction and audio books in their areas of interest and to reserve library copies.

"One of the coolest things is that when you read a review for a book you’re interested in, you can click on it and it goes right to the Timberland catalog where you can request it to be sent to your local Timberland library for you to check out," said TRL Director, Jodi Reng. "It’s easy, saves time—and it’s fun," said Reng.

People can sign up for one, several, or all 27 newsletters by visiting the TRL Web site at www.trlib.org and clicking on the "Great Reads" symbol. Newsletters are emailed monthly, biweekly, weekly or daily depending on the newsletter. The current edition of each is on the Web site.

Newsletters include Mystery, Fiction Best Sellers, Science & Nature, Book Sizzle (books in the news), Book Club Choices, Past & Present, Libros en Español, Children’s, Teen Scene and more. A complete list can be found on the TRL Web site. The Timberland Library and TRL Foundation newsletters provide information about the activities of the Library and the Foundation.

At the beginning of May, current Timberland cardholders who receive their library notices by email were sent a one-time email invitation to subscribe to the newsletters. Library users have placed over 16,000 subscriptions so far. New cardholders will also receive one email invitation. People need to sign up to begin receiving the newsletters. Subscribers have an opportunity at the bottom of each newsletter to cancel that newsletter.

BookPage, a monthly newsletter already popular with library users, and BookSite, an Internet service for bookstores and libraries, are providing the book reviews and summaries. Not every title reviewed will be available in libraries but most will be found in the Timberland catalog or are on order.

"This is a terrific service for those who’d like to keep up with titles in genres of their choice," said Reng. "The hottest new titles will be in your email."

For more information, people may contact their local Timberland library or TRL’s Central Reference librarians. Call 704-4636 in the Olympia calling area, or 1-800-562-6022, toll-free, from all other areas.