I frequently check out e-books on my laptop (I have a kindle app). I’m bemused that so many people complain about excessive quantities of romance novels-- either my library is fortunate and doesn’t have that problem, or I’m more tolerant of romance novels than some of you (likely both, actually).
I have borrowed over a hundred e-books in the past two years from my library. They don’t have as large a selection as I would like and their printed books have a much larger selection, but they’re getting better. My library uses Overdrive.
Okay, once again, Dopers have improved my life.
I’d heard about the Calibre program and had even downloaded it, but when it didn’t work on the first library book I tried (the file wouldn’t copy over to my Kindle), I assumed it wouldn’t work on borrowed books. With your encouragement, Blackberry, I tried it again just now. The file still wouldn’t copy onto my Kindle directly, but I was able to save the .mobi file and email it to my Kindle. A little extra inconvenience, but now I can read Thomas Pynchon books from the library!
And, doreen, you’re absolutely right! My library does use Overdrive, but I hadn’t really tried searching just, say, “Literature”. A few bodice-rippers still show up, but this will come in handy when I don’t have a lot of time.
Thank you both!
I have cards at three different library districts in the area. Lots to choose from, and I can do it all from home!
I like physical books more, but I like library e-books especially when I’m traveling. I don’t have to carry a lot of books with me, and as soon as I finish one I can download another.
My library uses overdrive, but another library uses Cloud Library which seems much easier to me. Overdrive is just really clunky.
I bought a tablet in May and most of my reading since then has been borrowed ebooks. My local library is part of the SEO library consortium, which gives me access to a lot of books. I use the online reservation system to put myself in the queue for popular books, and browse and search for instantly available books on various subjects.
I usually read at home using the “read in your browser” option. When I go on trips I download and read in the epub or Kindle format.
You might be interested to know that Overdrive recently announced that they will be discontinuing the evil Windows format and supplying all audiobooks in mp3 format. Yay!
I borrow lots of ebooks from my public library. If you are having trouble finding books to borrow, it’s the publishers who are to blame, most of the major publishers have resisted and refused to allow library borrowing of their titles.
So tell me why, if you have a bunch of people who read books, as in actually read, my library’s instructions for using e-books is strictly on video. I don’t want to watch a talking head, just give me bullet points on how to do this.
I check out both kinds of books from my library. It is much easier to check out e-books since I got a Nook HD because I can do it directly through the Overdrive app. I struggled some with using Adobe Digital Editions and getting books on my Simple Touch. My library is part of a regional system, so the e-book selection is decent and getting better all the time.
My library’s sci-fi section has a god-awful preponderance of Star Wars novels. About a quarter of the entire Fantasy and Sci-F collection has the Star Wars logo on the front cover.
Yes! I forgot to mention that. I like science fiction, but not those.
It might be a cliche, but old ladies do most of the ordering in libraries, and most old ladies have no use for sci-fi.
Depending on your public library, though, there are ways to become one of the people doing the ordering. Failing that, if they get enough requests for your kind of books, most libraries will fill them. My sister lived in a remote community of 4,000 in northern BC, and it was a snap for her to volunteer for a couple of hours a week, which got her on the committee doing the ordering.
That is extremely uncommon. Public libraries in the US don’t let volunteers do the ordering. Suggestions, sure, but the actual ordering, almost never.