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Popular Magazine Title Leaving OverDrive

FYI —

OverDrive recently released an update regarding required digital lending model changes for The Economist in the OverDrive Magazines Collection.

According to the update, the new requirements would restrict lending period access to only 24-hours and prohibit a reader who wants to access the same issue from borrowing it again remotely. For a reader to continue access to the issue, they must visit the library to renew access. 

OverDrive has decided not to implement this new lending model. As a result, all editions of The Economist will be removed from OverDrive Magazine collections effective February 1, 2023. The last issue available for readers to borrow will be January 28, 2023. All back issues will also be removed from collections on February 1. 

While this news will come as a disappointment for many library users, OverDrive continues to add new magazines to the collection regularly, including most recently, Fortune. Additionally, Allegheny County Library patrons have access to nearly 100 popular and in-demand digital magazine titles with the hoopla Magazine BingePass collection.

– Richelle at Sewickley Public Library

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Classic Overdrive App is going, going…no, REALLY going this time!

The classic OverDrive app’s sunset date has been pushed back to the end of April 2023. In the weeks before, current in-app messaging will be updated to give users a final reminder to switch to Libby. After the OverDrive app is sunset, users who try to access your library’s collection in the OverDrive app will see a message, informing them they now must upgrade to Libby in order to access the collection.

Note that while Amazon has not yet accepted the submission of the Libby app to the Amazon Appstore, users with Kindle Fire devices can also sideload Libby manually by visiting the below link. In this librarian’s experience, this works about 9 out of 10 times (the exception being on Kindle Fire devices that are too old to be compatible).

The Libby App for Kindle Fire Tablets | by OverDrive

In addition, users have been asking if the RTL (Request to Library) feature, allowing patrons to request items be added to the collection that are currently not owned, will be added to Libby. The good news has been announced that Libby will soon release a new feature for users to discover and share interest in titles that are not yet in the library’s collection. This feature will fulfill a top request from users and provide powerful tools to evaluate your community’s reading interests. Stay tuned for this new update coming soon!

— Heather Auman, Western Allegheny Community Library

Continue ReadingClassic Overdrive App is going, going…no, REALLY going this time!

Goodbye, Flipster

In September, the Digital Resources Committee announced that Allegheny County Libraries’ subscription to the eMagazine service Flipster would not be renewed and that on December 31st, 2022, this service will disappear. 

Some patrons may take issue with Flipster disappearing, so if that occurs, here are some talking points. 

  • Usage for Flipster has decreased over the years while circulation numbers for Overdrive and Hoopla have risen.  
  • Public libraries have limited resources. 
  • Flipster offers limited access to latest/back issues and the app is limited when it comes to accessibility features. 

There will still be plenty of options available for magazine lovers. In fact, Overdrive offers thousands of options to choose from and Hoopla’s growing collection can be accessed with a single borrow as part of its BingePass program.

-Erin Weaver, Bridgeville Public Library

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New Tech E-Book Collection

Tech users rejoice! A new collection of e-Books was recently made available to all Pennsylvania residents with a library card via the POWER Library.

Patrons can now explore a great collection in EBSCO E-Books that can help in library technology projects and to advance their career, hobby, or home-tech. Look for keywords like Ansible, Apache, AWS, Azure, DevOps, Django, Godot, Grafana, Java, Kubernetes, Microsoft, .net, Python, Rust, Swift, Unity, and so much more to find e-book materials and guides to using current and cutting-edge technologies.

Titles are available for download to a computer or via the EBSCO mobile app with unlimited access for simultaneous use. Be sure to pass on to tech-interested patrons about this new collection!

For more information, see the press release from PDE: PA Department of Education: Nearly 1,000 New E-Books Added to POWER Library for Pennsylvanians.

— Heather Auman, Western Allegheny Community Library

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