Libby

You’re Not Holding Enough Books on Libby

We’ve all experienced it. The crushing disappointment when a book you are white-hot on has a wait list of weeks or months. “73rd in line? Come on!” Mine was The Emperor of All Maladies. I started 48th in line with only 3 copies available in the county. 40 weeks. The terror.

But, I kept my head down and listened to my current audiobook, only to experience the same frustration a week later—I had one hold, 39 weeks. There must be a better way!

You cannot speed up your holds, but you can defer them. This means, whenever a hold becomes ready, you can delay them by a custom number of days (ASAP to 180 days). You can choose “deliver later” an unlimited number of times. Combine this with everyone’s far-too-long “to read” lists, and we have a solution brewing.

Here is my method:

  • Whenever I think of a book I could be interested in listening to, I add it to my Holds List, regardless of wait time, giving me a stable of several books on hold (up to 20 with your Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh card).
  • If a book becomes available and I am not ready for it, I delay it 7 days.
  • When I am ready for a book I have delayed, I change the delay option to ASAP.
  • Voila. A rotating cadre of books you want to read that can be available within days of your readiness. Not as satisfying as having them the day you are interested in them, but they will get to you when you are ready!

For instance, it has been 40+ weeks since I held The Emperor, and I am still not ready for it. But when the time comes, it will be there waiting for me within a few days.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at smithc2@coopersiegelcommunitylibrary.org.

Happy holding.

Cameron R.S. Smith

Cooper-Siegel Community Library  

Continue ReadingYou’re Not Holding Enough Books on Libby

Good news for Kindle Fire users!

The Libby App is now available for YOU, TOO! Libby gives you free access to thousand of eBooks, Audiobooks, and magazines from your library. Going forward, users with Amazon Fire tablets can download Libby directly from the Amazon Appstore instead of manually sideloading the app.

Note that the classic OverDrive app has now been completely removed from the Amazon Appstore as of June 7. Fire tablet users who already have the OverDrive app installed can continue to use it for now, but we encourage you to make the upgrade! Libby is more user-friendly and has a ton of features not available in the classic app, including requesting titles not yet in the library’s collection through “Notify Me” tags.

And now for the fine print: If you are a Kindle Fire user who previously had the Libby app through a “side load” APK, you can continue to use that version. However if you would like to switch to the official version of the app, you can download it and from your Amazon Appstore and log in with your library card. Note that if you switch from the APK version to the Amazon version of Libby, you may lose your Libby timeline activity, search history, and app customizations. You will not lose your loans, holds, or tags.

Can I use Libby on my Amazon Fire tablet? (libbyapp.com)

— Heather Auman, Western Allegheny Community Library

Continue ReadingGood news for Kindle Fire users!

Maximizing Your Libby Borrowing Options

This week is more of a life improvement tip than a professional pick-me-up. As (most of us, I assume) are residents of the wonderful Allegheny County, we are entitled to a lot of electronic library resources—particularly the titles available in Libby. Despite the best efforts of the DRC, some titles are simply too popular, and waitlists can sometimes extend into weeks and months. Sure, you could just find another book to listen to/read, but wouldn’t it be nice to have even more options for borrowing?

Enter the Free Library of Philadelphia.

But wait—we do not live in Philadelphia, how is this relevant? To answer, I would like to emphasize this paragraph from the Free Library’s website:

“A Free Library card is available at no cost to anyone who lives, works, pays taxes, or goes to school in the City of Philadelphia. In addition, anyone who lives in the state of Pennsylvania can obtain a Free Library card without charge.”

This would be a great time to mention a user can load several library cards onto their Libby account. My most recent and favorite success is South to America by Imani Perry. Recommended by a coworker, I was disappointed to see the waitlist extending into the double-digit number of weeks. But, with my handy-dandy Free Library of Philadelphia card, all was not lost:

The process for getting the card was simple and painless, and you can get started HERE. Because I am not a Philadelphia resident, the approval took a little longer (a few days) than for a typical Philly-dweller. Having two large libraries’ worth of electronic resources is proving a vast quality of life improvement.

I am curious if you have any hacks you have learned over your years in the greater PA library system! Please email me at smithc2@einetwork.net if you have any issues getting a Philadelphia card or want to swap tricks.

Happy reading.

Cameron R.S. Smith – Cooper-Siegel Community Library

Continue ReadingMaximizing Your Libby Borrowing Options

New feature now available in Libby!

One of the most often requested updates to Overdrive’s app Libby is now available – to request titles not yet owned by your home library, right in the app! This update includes two features called “Deep Search” and “Notify Me.”

Deep Search allows you to discover titles that are not yet in your library’s collection. Expanded search results will show when:

·        You search for something that returns no results, or

·        Your search results contain fewer than 100 titles and you manually turn on a filter called “Deep Search.” Libby will then show results not owned by your home library.

You can also add a “Notify Me” tag to titles that are not in your library’s collection. If your library purchases a title you have tagged, you will get a notification with the option to borrow (if available) or place a hold on the new item.

Watch this video from Libby on how this updated feature works!

Please Note: Users who previously accessed a similar feature called “Recommend to Library”  in the classic Overdrive app or website will note that this option will be ending in April 2023, along with the discontinuation of the classic Overdrive app. Be sure to update to the Libby app or link to https://libbyapp.com/library/acla to keep accessing your library’s collection and to use the new features available for title suggestions.

— Heather Auman, Western Allegheny Community Library

Continue ReadingNew feature now available in Libby!