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!

Need help looking for a book?

As library staff, we are often asked to find a book someone read a few years ago or as a child. During the interview process, usually some information is gathered about plot, characters, location/setting…but we lack the title. In comes NoveList! I’ve used this resource many times to successfully locate the title and author for the patron.

Here you or a patron can enter in search terms and narrow down criteria for the book. For this patron, she had read a vampire romance YA book (that wasn’t Twilight). Under Advanced search we can enter in keywords and select the age group.

Once we brought up the results, you can further narrow down the results by selecting publication date range.

Narrowing down the results gave us a much smaller list to look over and looking at the book covers, we were able to successfully locate the book!

There is also a hand link to check the catalog!

A successful book hunt all thanks to NoveList!

Gabi B. – Robinson Library

Continue ReadingNeed help looking for a book?

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!

It Came from the Library!

Ready to hear a scary story involving two fantastic digital resources that are perfect for instigating Halloween fun?

It was a dark and stormy-uh…morning…when the library patron walked into their local library. They were there to check-out their favorite Halloween movie. When they approached the circulation desk they saw…A LIBRARIAN! No, something scarier…a TECHNICAL SERVICES LIBRARIAN!

This feels like an overreaction.

Anyway, they asked for help finding the movie but to their horror they couldn’t quite remember the title! It was based on a book written by Anne Rice. Brad Pitt was in the movie along with…Jonah Hill? No, you’re thinking of Moneyball. Did Anne Rice write Moneyball?

The patron’s movie plans were getting slashed right before their eyes until they were reminded of IMDB.com, the exact resource they needed — linked right there on their library’s website. The Internet Movie Database provides information on films, television series, and online streaming content. The patron was able to figure out the movie they were looking for and they found information about the cast, production crew, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and reviews!

Yeah, I remember it being a 7.5 too.

They also learned through IMDB.com that Interview with the Vampire was recently re-VAMP-ed into a TV series. That’s going on the binge watch list. As the patron was checking out, they remembered their Interview with the Vampire themed Halloween party. That’s tonight! They meant to grab a copy of the original movie soundtrack! Surely, getting ahold of this item was going to be a hassle.

Oh no! The narrator was conveniently wrong for the sake of proving a point!

The patron was reminded of hoopla, the free resource through their library where they can stream all sorts of digital media like music, audio books, e-books, movies, TV and comics. They can stream this soundtrack directly from their computer or phone! They even found some Halloween e-books to read to their children after a fun night of trick-or-treating.

The library patron left with exactly what they were looking for and more, thanks to IMDB.com and hoopla. Both of which can be found on your very own library website. Scary stories don’t usually get endings as happy as this one. What a twist!

Derek, South Park Township Library

Continue ReadingIt Came from the Library!