Downloadables

There’s a new way to answer that age-old question: what do library users want?

We’ve just recently signed up for a free service that OverDrive provides called Recommend to Library. But don’t worry–it’s not an open invitation to request all the titles we can’t provide because they’re simply not available. Rather it’s a way to search the entire list of titles offered by OverDrive, including titles not currently available in our collection.

One way to see what OverDrive offers that we don’t currently own is to click on the Additional Titles radio button when you do a simple search.

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Another way to get there is to go the Advanced Search page on OverDrive. As you can see at the bottom of the image below, users can choose to search “Additional titles” here as well.

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In either case, what comes up will be a list of titles that match the search criteria. The first titles that appear will be those that we currently own, followed by those that we don’t.  If one (or more) of the latter is of interest, searchers can click the Recommend button.

For those with plenty of time on their hands and no particular authors or subjects in mind it’s also possible to browse the entire list of non-owned titles.  When users do a search of the library collection they’ll see this link at the bottom of their search results.

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One thing that might be a little confusing is that recommendations can’t be made by casual browsers.  They can only be made after signing in to OverDrive.  On the bright side, this means that users can keep track of the titles they’ve recommended in the “My Account” section of OverDrive.

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When the recommendation is made, users are prompted to check what action they’d like to have taken.  They can ask to be notified by email or to have the title put on hold for them–or both–if the library purchases the title in question.  They’ll also be required to confirm their recommendation.  For now recommendations are limited to 5 per day per person.

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So, what happens next? OverDrive creates and sends lists of recommended titles regularly for consideration by selectors.  Titles are added when they meet the selection criteria and funds permit.

Happy Searching!

Lisa D. (CLP)

Continue ReadingThere’s a new way to answer that age-old question: what do library users want?

It’s Easy to Help!

Did you know that it’s possible to email OverDrive help pages to people?  It’s an easy way to provide the information they need to answer their questions or resolve their issues.

Once you click through to a specific help page you will find a “MailTo” link in the upper right corner.  An email message will open with a link to the document you are viewing.  Just add their email address and your comments and hit send.  Voilà, your patron has easy access to what they need, and you don’t have to worry about losing them when you try to walk them through the process of getting there.

Take a closer look at that image up there.  I used it specifically because it’s all about loading the OverDrive Media Console (OMC) App on a Nook.  This is a recent development, so be sure to check out the steps here.

It was also recently announced that the OMC App is now available in the Amazon App Store, making it easy to load it onto a Kindle Fire.  Why would a patron want to do that, you might ask?  Two reasons: the option to browse for titles within the app rather than going through the library’s website, and, perhaps more importantly, the ability to bypass transferring Penguin books via USB by downloading the ePub version in the OMC app.

Sarah (CLP)

Continue ReadingIt’s Easy to Help!

The “State of the ebook union” –or maybe disunion

For a concise summary of  the world (or ocean) of “e”, read this blog post about the Ebook tipping point  by Tracey Thompson in Library 020—Musing about public libraries and library technologies where yes, there are still librarians!

Tracey summarizes a Pew Internet report from April 4 on the rise of e-reading, followed by various publishing houses and their current positions relating to ebooks. She blogs about ALA’s talks with publishers, Amazon and self-publishing through their site, OverDrive’s relationship with Amazon and Kindle, and Apple and the Department of Justice lawsuit against them and  five of the big publishers.

Tracy concludes with libraries and the tipping point of new business models for publishers. She predicts that the next few years will be exciting in the world of ebooks.

How do you feel? Would “excited” be your description? Maybe cautiously optimistic?

Karen

Northland

Continue ReadingThe “State of the ebook union” –or maybe disunion

Keeping Current in the Sea of “E”

Do you ever feel like you are barely treading water in the ever-shifting tides of the ebook sea?  Wondering how to keep afloat in the e-content ocean?  The EREC and ACLA Downloadables Committees are in the same boat.

Fortunately, there are a number of resources we’ve found to help us keep up-to-date.  We’ve added a “Life Preserver” section (kidding, it’s actually called “Other Informative Sites”), at right, to share some of our favorites.  We’ll add to the list whenever we come across something we think is especially useful. 

Have a favorite of your own?  Tell us about it in the comments!

Sarah

Continue ReadingKeeping Current in the Sea of “E”