audiobooks

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!

Get Ready, Get Set, GROW!

It’s that time of year again where avid gardeners are planning out their summer designs. Did you know that Libby and Hoopla has a large collection of Gardening materials?

https://libbyapp.com/search/acla/search/query-Gardening/subject-31/page-1

https://www.hoopladigital.com/search?q=gardening

Next time a patron asks for gardening books, don’t forget to check out the e-resources and all they have available!

Gabi – Robinson Library

Continue ReadingGet Ready, Get Set, GROW!

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

The Updates Keep On Comin’…

As always, updates are plentiful in OverDrive land! The sun has officially set on the WMA and WMV formats, with a few exceptions.  It turns out that the deadline spurred a few audio publishers into action and we have a few WMA stragglers that will stick around for conversion to MP3 by mid-June.

There were some WMA titles with active holds and those patrons have received an e-mail notification that their hold will not be fulfilled. We will also be receiving a list of the WMA titles in our collection and will be checking for a supported format that we can purchase.

OverDrive Listen has also arrived.  Like OverDrive Read, OverDrive Listen allows patrons to listen to audiobooks directly in their browser, rather than downloading the files onto their device. You can also still bookmark, notate, and highlight as with downloaded files.  Find more information about this new format in the OverDrive help pages.

Starting June 1, there is more happening on the holds front as well. Patrons can now get a better idea of how long they’ll be waiting for requests. Rather than the total number of holds for a title, they will see a whole number ratio that represents the number of holds per copy.

And, finally, there’s more news about OverDrive’s new “Dyslexic font” option.  Starting on June 1, patrons will have the option to enable this font through their account settings on the OverDrive site itself.  This heavier-weighted font increases readability for patrons with dyslexia. The feature, when turned on, will work site-wide.

Jeff, South Park

Continue ReadingThe Updates Keep On Comin’…