Library switches e-book delivery app
There’s a new way for Butler Area Public Library patrons to download an e-book to their devices.
Peter Bess, assistant director of the library, said patrons used to download an e-book to a tablet, phone or other device for a limited number of days using Overdrive.
Overdrive is now Libby, Bess said. The name change came about after Overdrive acquired multiple other avenues of sharing materials. Libby became the library reading app late last year.
The change doesn’t require upgrading or changing a library patron’s devices.
“You don’t need new devices. Just use the Libby app,” Bess said, adding the Libby app can be downloaded to phones, tablets, computers and pretty much any electronic device.
They can download it by going to their app store or at libbyapp.com.
To use the app, a library patron will need to log in to the app using their library card number and their PIN number, which is the last four digits of their library card number.
Bess said with the Libby app, patrons can log in to the Libby site using their library card to borrow a book or other items from Amazon.com.
Books downloaded through Libby are available to read for 14 days. On the day the downloaded item is due, it no longer will be able to be accessed on the patron’s device.
“You can choose to renew as long as it has not been placed on hold by another patron,” Bess said. With Libby, 10 items at a time can be put on hold, and those items don’t all have to be e-books.
“Reading is not the only option you have. You have audiobooks. You can download them to the phone and listen to them in the car and when you are doing chores around the house,” Bess said.
E-books have been around at least 13 years. People borrow them frequently, and they became especially popular during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown when everybody was housebound, he said.
“We were closed for three months in 2020. People dropped and picked up books at the front doors. There was a very big uptick in electronic borrowing then,” Bess said.
Electronic book borrowing is advantageous because there are no physical books to carry, and it’s good for people who can’t physically return volumes to the library.
Library patrons also are able to download audiobooks and magazines.
Still the most checkouts at the library are physical books, Bess said. In terms of levels of popularity of materials checked out of the library other than books, movies are most popular, then audiobooks. He said CDs are checked out the least “because most people don’t have CD players anymore.”
Libby allows music to be downloaded to a device from a phone through a vehicle’s stereo system.
“It’s very popular. It gets used all the time,” Bess said.
A second app available through the library is Hoopla, which allows patrons to borrow books, audiobooks, movies, television shows and music, also using a library card.
Bess said older patrons have a strong desire to use this new technology.
“The great thing is they can make an appointment with me to get a tutorial on the new system,” he said. “My worry is we may be leaving some people behind who do not know to use the new technology,” he said, adding the library can be great resource to become acquainted with the new technology.
“I love it that we get to be the people that help,” Bess said. “We are not the first generation to go through changes.”
