Purpose: To describe the open-source solution developed by Culturenet Cymru, for the Welsh Books Council, for presenting digitised books and other printed material online. Design/methodology/approach: The challenges faced in the implementation of a pilot e-book collection of nine out-of-print books is described. Findings: The adoption of a number of international standards for the presentation, coding, conversion, metadata and searching of texts have resulted in a working pilot project. Practical implications: It is hoped that many publicly funded bodies such as libraries and archives will make use of the system. A small collection of e-books may be of some use, but it is the ability to search for, and access, e-books across distributed collections which will provide real educational benefit. Originality/value: Culturenet Cymru hopes to play a role in co-ordinating the adoption of common standards for text digitisation in Wales. (Contains 5 figures.)