I am building libraries in rural Guinea, West Africa where there is no internet connection. I'd like to store a number of ebooks on a macbook air that will be housed in the library but allow people near it to access the books and read them on their phone.Is this possible?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14
You could use an inexpensive WiFi router as the local LAN. It DOES NOT need to actually be routing the Internet. It could just be offering WiFi to devices close to it, and allow those devices to talk to one another, including your Mac.
Not sure, but you might look at Calibre on the Mac.
I know Calibre can maintain a library on your Mac, but what I am unsure of is how you transfer ebooks from Calibre to iPhones, and what ebook reader you would use on the iPhone.
I have only used Calibre to track the books I read, and since I DO have internet access, I just allow Kindle to fetch the ebooks for me.
Second, there is an iPhone app called "Shubook M2" in the iPhone App Store that can download ebooks from different sources. The ebooks need to be Digital Rights Management (DRM) free, which I assume the books you are collecting are:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shubook-2m/id950017941
I'm sure there are other ebook readers available for the iPhone (and most likely Android phones). I just know about Shubook M2.
Finally, I know that libraries in the U.S. have access to specialized ebook lending apps. The library buys an ebook with 'n' concurrent distributions, and the software will only allow 'n' library patrons to read the ebooks for a 2 week period, and then the ability to read the ebook expires and another patron can read the ebook. I only know this software exists, and that publishers have a method of charing public libraries that lend ebooks this way.
Thank you, Ben.
The people in the village primarily speak Malinke, which is not a written language. The children in the village school are taught in French, which adds another level of complexity to the issue. So I'll need to help them understand how to access the collection through their phone.
I wonder if I set up a LAN would that let them gain access?
The ebooks will basically be children's books in French that I'm having local students record while reading them, allowing the children in the village the opportunity to see the words and hear the pronunciation. This is taking place in a remote village in Guinea, West Africa - a country with a literacy rate around 30%. It will be a new concept to most.
Again thank you for the response.
My nonprofit is Guinea Reads
John Marlowe
Using Macbook Air to share ebook library saved on Macbook with cell phones in remote Africa where there is no internet.
