Overdrive Redesign

[Bookworm_Girl]

I can't remember if this suggestion has been mentioned already, but they should have a button to filter your wishlist for available books similar to the one they have for searching/browsing.

[Blossom]

I'd be happy if they just fix the sorting bug. When you click on libray collection it sorts by relevancy. I am starting to think it's hopeless.

[JSWolf]

FLP used to have a field in the advanced search that allowed you to specify the sort order. That's since been done away with.

[xendula]

Mike@Overdrive:
Can you please add a "remember my password" checkbox to the Ocean State ezone (RI) site? Having to type it in every single time is not user friendly. Having to type it in on a mobile device, is even less so.

Also, on the Android app, when switching between bookshelf and library (get more books) back and forth, can you please not have the site redirect me to the home page every single time?! Sometimes I need to check if a book downloaded or not, and when I switch back to the site, it rediects me to the home page and I have to click on account again. It would not be such a problem with the old site, but this new site is unacceptably slow!
Also from the app, when I click on the account icon and it prompts me to log in, can you please not have it redirect me to the home page after log-in, but let me go to my account after log-in? This is how it works on the PC, but not through the Android app. Load times are so abysmal that any click on the new site is a real problem.

BTW, did you ever do any benchmark testing for load times? The speed at which the pages load remind me of dial-up intranet from the nineties!

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I'd be happy if they just fix the sorting bug. When you click on libray collection it sorts by relevancy. I am starting to think it's hopeless.

That, and I'd also be happy if they could reduce load times to at least a quarter of what they are now, and bring back classic view. And getting series is such a nightmare that I need to use fictfact to figure out what number is what. Why on earth they took the detail info away from users is beyond me.

I also second Bookworm_Girl's suggestion: add an "available now" button to the wishlist, and please also show me my entire wishlist, not just the first 80. Add a next arrow to the current wishlist view.

[DianNC]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I am starting to think it's hopeless.

I'm starting to think not one of the designers of NextGen ever had a library card or used a public library. If they had, they'd know that being able to see the full name of the book and author are essential.

The last of my libraries made the switch last night ... sorta put me in a bad mood.

/rant off

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DianNC

The last of my libraries made the switch last night ... sorta put me in a bad mood.

One more of my libraries made the switch. I still have two doing it old school.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

FLP used to have a field in the advanced search that allowed you to specify the sort order. That's since been done away with.

It's the great dumbing down of the library portal for the masses. Form over function.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

FLP used to have a field in the advanced search that allowed you to specify the sort order. That's since been done away with.

Great point! Now you have to select the sort order in the left column after the search rather than within the search criteria which is supposed to be advanced but has been simplified now! They also reduced the number of items shown on a page from 25 to 20 which means you have to click through more pages as well.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by xendula

That, and I'd also be happy if they could reduce load times to at least a quarter of what they are now, and bring back classic view. And getting series is such a nightmare that I need to use fictfact to figure out what number is what. Why on earth they took the detail info away from users is beyond me.

I also second Bookworm_Girl's suggestion: add an "available now" button to the wishlist, and please also show me my entire wishlist, not just the first 80. Add a next arrow to the current wishlist view.

Ditto. Lack of information, including series information, when browsing is till my biggest issue with the new system.
Since I read a lot of mysteries, I use stopyourekillingme.com to help figure out series order.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Ditto. Lack of information, including series information, when browsing is till my biggest issue with the new system.
Since I read a lot of mysteries, I use stopyourekillingme.com to help figure out series order.

FictionDB is great for series information, another one is Fantastic Fiction and of course Goodreads.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by DianNC

I'm starting to think not one of the designers of NextGen ever had a library card or used a public library. If they had, they'd know that being able to see the full name of the book and author are essential.

The last of my libraries made the switch last night ... sorta put me in a bad mood.

/rant off

Agreed, that's what I've been saying all along.


It's like walking into a BN store and...
1) having your legs tied together so you can only move really slowly (slow load times)
2) having a blindfold on, so you can see very little (half view of title/author)
3) needing to call a store employee to get the blindfold off and get a book off the shelf so you can see the full title. He'll open up the book to the book info and cover text for you. This employee can also tell you if the book is available for purchase (detail view of a book)
5) waiting for a second employee to put your blindfold back on and point you to a big box where all the installments of a the series are, along with audio versions, but sometimes the audio versions have different looking covers, so unless you read the titles, you don't know for sure of there are duplicates. Of course, you were put the blindfold back on and can't tell for sure unless you have a closer look at the books. For this, an employee will open each book for you to see, then he'll throw it back in the box and fish out the next one. If it's one he already opened for you, oh well, too bad you did not remember you had already looked at that one. Wait, do you remember that the first one he picked is number 5, the second one number 3, the third one number 9? No? Maybe you should have written it down with pen and paper, then. You can have him order them by publication date, but because you are looking at audio and paper books, the order is out of whack.

Also, your BN does not have all installments in the series, really only books 3-9, but if you remember correctly, 7 was also missing. Had you known that, you would not have bothered in the first place. 15 minutes you could have spent looking at another box of books, that may or may not start at book 1. No way of knowing for sure, since you are still waiting for an employee to take your blindfold off and show you the contents of THAT box, book by book.

I am not even exaggerating here. This is the reality of browsing the new system, and browsing series with the new look.

Any comments, about this, Overdrive?!

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by xendula

Agreed, that's what I've been saying all along.


It's like walking into a BN store and...
1) having your legs tied together so you can only move really slowly (slow load times)
2) having a blindfold on, so you can see very little (half view of title/author)
3) needing to call a store employee to get the blindfold off and get a book off the shelf so you can see the full title. He'll open up the book to the book info and cover text for you. This employee can also tell you if the book is available for purchase (detail view of a book)
5) waiting for a second employee to put your blindfold back on and point you to a big box where all the installments are along with audio versions, but sometimes the audio versions have different looking covers, so unless you read the titles, you don't know for sure of there are duplicates. Of course, you were put the blindfold back on and can't tell for sure unless you have a closer look at the books. For this, an employee will open each book for you to see, then he'll throw it back in the box and fish out the next one. If it's one he already opened for you, oh well, too bad you did not remember you had already looked at that one. Wait, do you remember that the first one he picked is number 5, the second one number 3, the third one number 9? No? Maybe you should have written it down with pen and paper, then. You can have him order them by publication date, but because you are looking at audio and paper books, the order is out of whack.

Also, your BN does not have all installments in the series, really only books 3-9, but if you remember correctly, 7 was also missing. Had you known that, you would not have bothered in the first place. 15 minutes you could have spent looking at another box of books, that may or may not start at book 1. No way of knowing for sure, since you are still waiting for an employee to take your blindfold off and show you the contents of THAT box, book by book.

I am not even exaggerating here. This is the reality of browsing the new system, and browsing series with the new look.

Any comments, about this, Overdrive?!

I love this! this is a great description of what it feels like to browse books on the new Overdrive.

[DianNC]

After requesting a title be made available at one of my local libraries, I received an email from them informing me the book was available as an audiobook with their 'OneClickDigital' service and included instructions for downloading the software and setting up an account. I'd never even heard of it but decided to give it a try.

Although not without its flaws, OneClickDigital does have some amazing features that I'd love to see adopted by OverDrive...

1) History tab. Shows all books previously checked out w/date of check-out.

2) Choice of check-out time (1 to 14 days).

3) Early return. I haven't actually used this feature yet, but nice to know it's there for audiobooks.

The service is for audiobooks only and getting around the website is painfully slow (more so when logged in for some reason), but I've found some titles not available at my main digital library, so pretty happy about that.

Anyone else use it? Of my 3 local libraries (one county and two city), only one offers it as an alternative to OverDrive.

[4691mls]

I haven't tried the service DianNC is talking about, but those do sound like good features. I would love to have a History tab in Overdrive, to be able to easily see which books I've previously checked out.