All Digital Library Now Open to the Public

[rdfry]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Interesting, because I can still borrow ebooks and audiobooks from libraries where I'm not a resident. I wonder why OverDrive would be so selective?

Yeah one of my libraries pulled that crap on me. I can still borrow dead tree books but no ebooks.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Interesting, because I can still borrow ebooks and audiobooks from libraries where I'm not a resident. I wonder why OverDrive would be so selective?

IIRC this was discussed few years ago (when the NYPL stopped their non-resident offering). In order to be able to have all books from OverDrive potentially available to your library they can't offer non-resident checkouts or something like that. So places like the Free Library or Philadelphia have a smaller catalog of content available to them. This was due to publisher complaints to OverDrive.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

IIRC this was discussed few years ago (when the NYPL stopped their non-resident offering). In order to be able to have all books from OverDrive potentially available to your library they can't offer non-resident checkouts or something like that. So places like the Free Library or Philadelphia have a smaller catalog of content available to them. This was due to publisher complaints to OverDrive.

All of my libraries still allow reciprocal borrowing and they have some of the largest collections in the country; including Seattle with over 70,000 ebooks. Two others have collections over 40,000 and 30,000 ebooks.

That's why I'm a bit puzzled by this.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by rdfry

Yeah one of my libraries pulled that crap on me. I can still borrow dead tree books but no ebooks.

I can't remember the last time I borrowed a DTB.

[rdfry]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I can't remember the last time I borrowed a DTB.

I still borrow them if I have to. You have overlook the food stains and the bacteria though.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

All of my libraries still allow reciprocal borrowing and they have some of the largest collections in the country; including Seattle with over 70,000 ebooks. Two others have collections over 40,000 and 30,000 ebooks.

That's why I'm a bit puzzled by this.

For Overdrive the term non-resident generally means out-of-state. I contacted Seattle Public Library and asked if I can have a library card and the gentleman said no as I didn't live in Washington State. If I did, then it would cost $85 a year unless I had a card from a reciprocal county.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Fbone

For Overdrive the term non-resident generally means out-of-state. I contacted Seattle Public Library and asked if I can have a library card and the gentleman said no as I didn't live in Washington State. If I did, then it would cost $85 a year unless I had a card from a reciprocal county.

Ahhh, that explains it. None of my libraries offer out-of-state cards; except one. It offers its card to a few counties in Oregon that border its territory.


edit: but then, that doesn't explain Orange County and Brooklyn. Both are major OverDrive libraries with over 60,000 and 40,000 ebooks respectively, and both allow out-of-state cards.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by rdfry

I still borrow them if I have to. You have overlook the food stains and the bacteria though.

Ewww.... nothing like somebody else's crumbs falling on your bed. And let's not foget the ones that smell like cigarette smoke.

[John F]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

IIRC this was discussed few years ago (when the NYPL stopped their non-resident offering). In order to be able to have all books from OverDrive potentially available to your library they can't offer non-resident checkouts or something like that. So places like the Free Library or Philadelphia have a smaller catalog of content available to them. This was due to publisher complaints to OverDrive.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

...

edit: but then, that doesn't explain Orange County and Brooklyn. Both are major OverDrive libraries with over 60,000 and 40,000 ebooks respectively, and both allow out-of-state cards.

I was wondering the same thing. The explanation I came up with is that those libraries still buy a lot of books, even though their selection is limited?

I have noticed that for Free Library of Philly, there are titles in overdrive that say they are available for libraries, but I cannot recommend them using the FLP website.

[gracie]

According to the librarian with whom I spoke, it's purely Overdrive wanting EVERY county to pay them for their service. I don't know how different systems interpret what Overdrive is demanding, but in Minnesota, Hennepin County interpreted it as any NON-COUNTY resident.

Of course, we don't know who's zoomin' who here... It COULD be that Overdrive says OUT-OF-STATE, and the Hennepin County library board decided that anyone that isn't willing to pay their ridiculously overblown property taxes shouldn't be allowed to borrow electronic materials... Never underestimate the venal intent of scumbag politicians.

Unfortunately, I find a LOT more of what I'm after in Hennepin County, where I can't get them, than in ANY other in-state library. More by factors of 10 than Saint Paul, Selco, Rochester, or the 3M Cloud.

[Coold]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Ewww.... nothing like somebody else's crumbs falling on your bed. And let's not foget the ones that smell like cigarette smoke.

Cigarette smoke is injurious to health. Cigarette smell is very bad. I don't like cigarette smell.

[faithbw]

Originally Posted by gracie

According to the librarian with whom I spoke, it's purely Overdrive wanting EVERY county to pay them for their service. I don't know how different systems interpret what Overdrive is demanding, but in Minnesota, Hennepin County interpreted it as any NON-COUNTY resident.

Of course, we don't know who's zoomin' who here... It COULD be that Overdrive says OUT-OF-STATE, and the Hennepin County library board decided that anyone that isn't willing to pay their ridiculously overblown property taxes shouldn't be allowed to borrow electronic materials... Never underestimate the venal intent of scumbag politicians.

Unfortunately, I find a LOT more of what I'm after in Hennepin County, where I can't get them, than in ANY other in-state library. More by factors of 10 than Saint Paul, Selco, Rochester, or the 3M Cloud.

I think the library itself just doesn't want non-county resident to access e-books. I say this because I have a library card to a library (and by extension its consortium) in a county that I don't live in. Their rule is that anyone who lives in the state can get a card from them. I can also borrow e-books from the consortium's Overdrive site.