The Hidco-run New Town Library has opened up its digital section for free download of e-books in English and Bengali to help beat lockdown blues.

Booklovers can log onto www.newtownlibrary.in and click on “Free E-Books”, said an official of the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation.

On offer are the complete collection of Tintin, Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Narayan Debnath’s Batul the Great and Handa Bhoda, among other titles.

The New Town Library, which has a tie-up with the National Digital Library, is located on the second and third floors of Nazrul Tirtha. Spread over 6,000sq ft, the library has an online section as well, the official said.

An annual membership at the library costs Rs 1,000. But the online collection of around 1,000 titles in Bengali and English can be accessed for free during the lockdown.

“Most people are cooped up in their houses. So we thought of giving free access to the online section as reading can be therapeutic,” said Debashis Sen, Hidco chairman.

Apart from its own e-book collection, the library authorities have also put together a page on several free websites that offer access to e-books.

“The idea was to make as many books as possible available to people on a single platform,” said Sen.