How long are the eBook waiting lists at your library?

[carld]

I was reading through a discussion of ePub and library books when someone mentioned never having to buy best sellers again. Remembering how long the wait was for some of the older Sookie Stackhouse books, I wondered how long I'd have to wait for the current best sellers.

Clevnet has one of the largest eBook collections in the country, so I put myself on the waiting list for the top 5 NYT Hardback best sellers to see where I landed. Here's what I found:

Fiction:
1. THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, by Stieg Larsson, 25th
2. TOUGH CUSTOMER, by Sandra Brown, not available
3. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett, 24th
4. STAR ISLAND, by Carl Hiaasen, 1st
5. VEIL OF NIGHT, by Linda Howard, 2nd

Non-Fiction:
1. _____ MY DAD SAYS, by Justin Halpern, 11th
2. THE OBAMA DIARIES, by Laura Ingraham, not available
3. THE BIG SHORT, by Michael Lewis, not available
4. EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON, by S. C. Gwynne, not available
5. CHELSEA CHELSEA BANG BANG, by Chelsea Handler, 17th

If you estimate that each person keeps the book for an average of 2 weeks, the wait for the hottest best sellers could be the better part of a year.

Could a mod fix the title for me? I don't know how I put those extra characters up there.

[texasnightowl]

Don't forget in your calculations to factor in multiple copies of books.

The "line" will move faster the more copies of the book that the library "owns". My library has been purchasing 5 copies of each title.

[JSWolf]

And remember, if your library has a maximum of 21 days, most people will leave the default at 21 days and they will not return when they are done and you will just wait the entire 21 days for that copy to be returned. So for a 21 day borrowing period and using your wait of 25 days for your #1 in fiction, you will have to wait close to 1.5 years to actually be able to borrow the eBook. And even if it's only 14 days maximum, you will still have to wait just over a year.

There is no device in place to say.. You've now finished reading, please return the book so others can get it faster.

[carld]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

Don't forget in your calculations to factor in multiple copies of books.

The "line" will move faster the more copies of the book that the library "owns". My library has been purchasing 5 copies of each title.

That's true, I forgot about that. Good point.

[JSWolf]

A lot of libraries only purchase one copy in a given format. They may have multiple copies of the same book, but it will be ePub, WMA, and maybe PDF.

[carld]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And remember, if your library has a maximum of 21 days, most people will leave the default at 21 days and they will not return when they are done and you will just wait the entire 21 days for that copy to be returned. So for a 21 day borrowing period and using your wait of 25 days for your #1 in fiction, you will have to wait close to 1.5 years to actually be able to borrow the eBook. And even if it's only 14 days maximum, you will still have to wait just over a year.

There is no device in place to say.. You've now finished reading, please return the book so others can get it faster.

Clevnet gives you 2 days, I think, to check a book out before they move on to the next person on the list. I assumed there'd be a few drop outs along the way. And there is a function in ADE to return ePubs and PDFs books early, but not for mobi. I expect few people will return books early though, most seem to just let the 21-day timer expire. I was 4 of 4 on the waiting list for the 4th Stackhouse books and it took forever for the book to become available.

But, all in all, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to wait a year for the Stieg Larsson books.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by carld

Clevnet gives you 2 days, I think, to check a book out before they move on to the next person on the list. I assumed there'd be a few drop outs along the way. And there is a function in ADE to return ePubs and PDFs books early, but not for mobi. I expect few people will return books early though, most seem to just let the 21-day timer expire. I was 4 of 4 on the waiting list for the 4th Stackhouse books and it took forever for the book to become available.

But, all in all, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to wait a year for the Stieg Larsson books.

Most people do not know they can return ePub & PDF when they are done and because it all happens automatically, they won't really care. They just finish it and it'll sit there waiting for it to expire. Even if they don't finish it, once it's out, it'll be out until it expires. Clevnet has a 21 day maximum borrowing time. So really, I do expect it to be more then a year before you would get it.

At one local library, the lending period is 14 days maximum. I was #61 on the list for The Girl Who Kicked Hornet's Nests and that would be 2.3 years before my time came up proving everyone on the list had it for 14 days.

[lisajjb]

How do I return an ebook early? When you borrow a book for the Nook does it expire on your device after the 21-day limit? I own the Libre which has no internal clock and have read somewhere (and was even told by a librarian) that once it is on my device it is mine forever.

I live in a very small town in which my library has purchased into a consortium with other libraries in the state. They have a very small selection but hopefully it will grow. I waited only 2 weeks for my first book to come available and I'm thinking I'm 4th in line for the other that I've requested.

[graycyn]

My library (part of the Oregon Digital Library Consortium) offers 7, 14 and 21 day lending periods. What is interesting though, is that when you add a book to your cart for checkout, the pre-selected period is 7 days. You can change that, and you can also set up a default period for your account, but I wonder how many people actually bother?

I'm sure some just check out with the 7 day lending period selected, not realizing they can have the book longer!

As for the returning early... I do. I figure I don't like waiting, so I try to cut other folks on the list a break. I did the same thing with hardback bestsellers, just putting them in the car and dropping them off via the book slot, even if I might have other books still out. Courtesy helps make the world nicer.

But I agree, most folks won't even know they CAN return early. The library site doesn't mention it and I think that's a great pity. I think many folks, if they knew how, WOULD return early.

@lisajjb I have a Nook... yes, the book will expire after the lending period limit. Nook does have an internal clock though. To return a book early, you go into ADE (while you are online) and hover your cursor over the book. Click the arrow in the top left corner and it will give you a drop down menu, one item of which will be the return option. Click that and your book is returned!

Spread the word.

And if you can, make sure your library knows you appreciate having the ebook lending available!

[SensualPoet]

With the Kobo -- which uses the Adobe ADE software -- you can return an ePub book early by right-clicking on a cover and a drop down menu appears; one of the options is "return". I set all my borrowings to 14 days by default.

As for the queues for books, I don't know how long they are for physical books but I'd guess they are no worse. And, ebooks don't get stolen or "mis-laid" by patrons. I find with 2 or 3 things in the queue all the time I never run out of library material.

[abookreader]

I put ours in red, number on the list and available copies. Further, our library seems to add new books the second week of every month so the newest releases such as Star Island and Veil of Night aren't likely to be available yet. Representative of this sample though, I don't see many non-Fiction titles ever added unless they are business/self-help orientated.

Fiction:
1. THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, by Stieg Larsson, 35 - 10 copies
2. TOUGH CUSTOMER, by Sandra Brown, not available
3. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett, 16 - 11 copies
4. STAR ISLAND, by Carl Hiaasen, 1st not available
5. VEIL OF NIGHT, by Linda Howard, 2nd not available

Non-Fiction:
1. _____ MY DAD SAYS, by Justin Halpern, not available
2. THE OBAMA DIARIES, by Laura Ingraham, not available
3. THE BIG SHORT, by Michael Lewis, not available
4. EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON, by S. C. Gwynne, not available
5. CHELSEA CHELSEA BANG BANG, by Chelsea Handler, not available

[eric11210]

Originally Posted by lisajjb

How do I return an ebook early? When you borrow a book for the Nook does it expire on your device after the 21-day limit? I own the Libre which has no internal clock and have read somewhere (and was even told by a librarian) that once it is on my device it is mine forever.

I live in a very small town in which my library has purchased into a consortium with other libraries in the state. They have a very small selection but hopefully it will grow. I waited only 2 weeks for my first book to come available and I'm thinking I'm 4th in line for the other that I've requested.

You already got your answer regarding the question on how to return early, however, regarding your other question, that on a Libre, the book is yours forever, the answer is, sort of. I read about someone else with a Libre a while back (I don't remember where). When you sync your Libre to the computer and ADE starts up, it will go in and "expire" the book on your device. However, if you never turn on ADE, then you can theoretically keep the book on your device forever and continue reading it. Though of course you'd lose the ability to borrow from the library then. On the good side, that means that if you don't sync too often you can "return" the book and then continue reading it until you're ready to sync, at which time it will expire.

[JSWolf]

Tough Customer is from Simon & Schuster and thus, not available at the library as an eBook.

[GraceKrispy]

How long are the eBook waiting lists at your library?

Forever. And a day.

I was 11th on the waiting list for a book and I ordered the pbook version at the same time- 368 in line. I never did get the ebook, but I got the pbook within a month. Popular new release (my library puts a 1wk limit for checkout for those) with many copies circulating made for a *much* shorter wait.

[daffy4u]

This week I went to my local county library (Los Angeles County) to get a library card so I could checkout some ebooks. Since I choose not to pay more than $9.99 for a non-reference ebook, my "plan" was to get those ebooks from the library (and when the prices dropped, I would then buy the ebooks).

Aside from patchy availability, everything I was interested in, had a waiting list. I haven't figured out how to tell where I am on the list.

While in the library, I asked about making a monetary donation specifically toward growing their ebook collection. I was told that their books are purchased centrally and they have no mechanism for taking donations for ebooks. The person I spoke with gave me her card and when I got home, I emailed her this link on how to take donations. She's passing on the information to the powers that be in hopes that a system can be created.

So far, in my world, ebooks from the library are not ready for prime time.