# Library EBooks - Can you check them out from another town? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 21, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906 "2011-12-21T00:52:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/1 "2011-12-21T00:52:13Z")
My mom has a library card at the big city library that I live in. She’s been checking out books for years whenever she’s here for a few days visiting. She recently bought a Kindle. I’ve been looking at this library’s web site. The Ebooks can be checked out from there. They use Overdrive and that supports Kindles and Adobe EPUB, PDF readers. Most books I looked at in their catalog are checked out. Apparently these Ebooks are already very popular at the library. Will the library restrict downloads to a certain geographic area? Or do they even care enough to check IP numbers? I’m a little afraid to ask them directly. I might not like the answer. 😉 Mom lives 120 miles from me in a small town. Her local library is way underfunded. They don’t even keep up with recent releases. I doubt they’ll consider Ebooks anytime soon. They barely keep the utilities paid and doors open. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/2 "2011-12-21T01:16:40Z")
Someone at the local county library told me that they have a contract agreement for these ebooks, so I’m assuming that the cost to provide these comes directly out of county funds, which come from county property tax payers. So if a town is in Multnomah County here in Oregon, a person can check out an ebook. Otherwise, no. There is also a limit on how many books you can check out, and for how long. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/3 "2011-12-21T01:21:18Z")
The San Diego library requires you to have a San Diego library card to check out ebooks. I don’t think there is any attempt to check the IP addresses to verify location. They use overdrive as well. I would imagine that most libraries will have something similar. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/4 "2011-12-21T01:26:49Z")
Another scenario would be when you go on vacation. You might be at a hotel in another state. But with internet and Wi-Fi you could pull up your local library’s website and check-out a Ebook to read. Assuming you have a card at your local library. There are legitimate reasons you may want to check out a book from out of town. Heck, I’ve taken library books with me on short vacations. Read them and return them when I got back a few days later. I always worry about losing or misplacing the book. But, so far that’s never happened. I’m extra vigilant that it stays in my suitcase when I’m not reading it. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/5 "2011-12-21T02:01:15Z")
The New York Public Library used to let non-residents buy a library card for $80 a year, but they recently discontinued it because (supposedly) the publishers didn’t like people all over the country using the e-book access. I think some of the other big city libraries might have similar programs, but I wouldn’t be surprised if those go away soon too. I’ve used my old Seattle library card to check out e-books even though I haven’t lived there in years, so at least there once you’ve got a card they don’t check your IP or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Library\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@Library\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Library_Boy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/6 "2011-12-21T02:04:14Z")
If you have a library card from the library, and they use OverDrive, then you can download from anywhere in the world. Period. Full stop. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/7 "2011-12-21T02:13:47Z")
Library licenses for resources available off-site are generally tied to the library card. There may be different levels of access for non-residents (like some academic libraries will have different access levels for alumni or for community/business users). If, however, her card is not a non-resident card or if that library doesn’t have different access levels, then she’d have the same access levels as a resident. She should check her local library too - it might be tiny, but it may have consortial access. It may not, but if it does, it could increase what she may have access to. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/8 "2011-12-21T04:25:48Z")
If YOU have a library card from the “big city library,” why not let Mom borrow ebooks on YOUR card? ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/9 "2011-12-21T04:52:48Z")
Mom has her own library card from the library near my house. She visits and stays with me regularly. She actually got her card before me. Sometimes I think she looks forward to the library visits more than me. 😉 She can easily plow through a couple books a day. I just wanted to confirm whether she could check-out Ebooks from outside this area. It sounds like she can. It’s worth trying anyway. Thanks everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/library-ebooks-can-you-check-them-out-from-another-town/606906/10 "2011-12-21T05:48:05Z")
> [@Library\_Boy](#): > > If you have a library card from the library, and they use OverDrive, then you can download from anywhere in the world. Period. Full stop. Correct. My daughter has a library card from our county in California, and she can check out books from Germany.