Overdrive Redesign

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Blossom

BPL is Brooklyn Public Library which many of us here pay $50 a year for.

BPL has been and always will be Boston Public Library. Hence the URL. Sorry, but BPL is not Brooklyn.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by John F

In case you weren't aware... You may be able to do this from the library end.

Some small amount of my taxes go to pay an acquisitions librarian to balance popularity, subject matter coverage, and quality as indicated by book reviews and awards. Personally, I would rather he or she earn their salary rather than filling out order slips based on requests from the public.

If that makes me an elitist, I plead guilty.

Here's the Overdrive link for last book I finished (in paper, purchased for $3.80 used):

Vimy

I'd rate it high in quality, but, outside Canada, low in popularity. Therefore, probably does not make the cut.

This isn't to criticize people who take advantage of libraries that honor patron buy requests. If they are going to take requests, I guess yours is as good as the next person's.

[xendula]

Deleted due to redundancy

[xendula]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

BPL has been and always will be Boston Public Library. Hence the URL. Sorry, but BPL is not Brooklyn.

Does it really matter that two libraries share the same acronym?!

Brooklyn uses BPL all over its site as well.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by xendula

Does it really matter that two libraries share the same acronym?!

Brooklyn uses BPL all over its site as well.

Speaking of BPL they now have check boxes for selecting format to download. This is a Overdrive!

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I hadn't read much in a long time before I got my ereader, so I have been using the library very much as a discovery tool. That's why the difficulty with browsing now is so frustrating for me.

Exactly. I also get annoyed when it cuts off at 10 or 20 pages of new books added when they've added more than that...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xendula

Does it really matter that two libraries share the same acronym?!

Brooklyn uses BPL all over its site as well.

Whoever gets BPL as part of their URL gets the initials. In this case, Boston Public Library gets BPL and Brooklyn Public Library will need something different. That just how it is. If Brooklyn is using BPL, then they really need to fix their website.

[John F]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Some small amount of my taxes go to pay an acquisitions librarian to balance popularity, subject matter coverage, and quality as indicated by book reviews and awards. Personally, I would rather he or she earn their salary rather than filling out order slips based on requests from the public.

If that makes me an elitist, I plead guilty.

Here's the Overdrive link for last book I finished (in paper, purchased for $3.80 used):

Vimy

I'd rate it high in quality, but, outside Canada, low in popularity. Therefore, probably does not make the cut.

This isn't to criticize people who take advantage of libraries that honor patron buy requests. If they are going to take requests, I guess yours is as good as the next person's.

Would you have a link to your library?

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Exactly. I also get annoyed when it cuts off at 10 or 20 pages of new books added when they've added more than that...

The new design fixes this problem. If you click on "recently added," you can keep paging forever.

eP

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Some small amount of my taxes go to pay an acquisitions librarian to balance popularity, subject matter coverage, and quality as indicated by book reviews and awards. Personally, I would rather he or she earn their salary rather than filling out order slips based on requests from the public.

I'm not sure what's wrong with both. An acquisitions librarian can look at the request from the patron and see if it works with his or her goals of popularity, subject matter coverage, and quality.

All I want is to know that the right person (the acquisitions librarian) is actually seeing my request.

eP

[terendel]

I'm Juli Monroe, and I'm a writer for TeleRead. Dan asked me to cover this story, and I'm gathering information to send off an email to Mike as a "reporter from TeleRead." No promises that he'll listen to me, but I'll give it a go.

Sorry for taking so long to get to this. Dan emailed me right as I was leaving for a conference, and I just got back.

I've skimmed through the entire thread and played around with the new system at my library (Fairfax County), and I basically agree that the new interface isn't great.

I've made a list of what seemed like the biggest complaints from the thread. Did I get it right? Am I missing something? Has anything from this list been corrected?

1. General hate for thumbnail view and "squashed" book information.
2. Wish list page that allows easy removal, hold requests and checkout
3. Return to the bookbag
4. While browsing, easy links for accessing hold requests, wish lists, bookbag and item on loan
5. More visual indication of a book's availability, especially in what format (so you don't accidentally check out and audio version when what you really wanted was Kindle)
6. Fewer click-throughs! (I completely agree with this. I miss seeing how many library copies are available on my Hold page.)
7. Search for "Add to Cart" on the Wishlist
8. Confirmation that returning a book that you checked out by mistake won't lock your account for "suspicious activity" (Never ran across that one, and I've done several same day returns. Lucky me!)
9. "Available now" to Wishlist filters
10. Going back to the Holds list from checkout instead of being directed to the bookshelf

Does that cover most of it?

I'll keep you posted, and let you know when the story is published.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by John F

Would you have a link to your library?

Why do you ask?

I live in Pennsylvania, where residents can join any library in the state. Google the libraries in most counties within about 50 miles of Philadelphia, and you will have the links. One or two don't let outsiders borrow eBooks, probably because they're ashamed to let people in the next county know how bad their collection is. True or false, that's how I'll look at it.

And, cheap as I am, Brooklyn Public Library has my $50 fee.

Sharing library cards with relatives is a nasty habit I wouldn't admit to if I did it, so any possibilities there need no mention.

I've long patronized a bunch of libraries, it's just that now, I rarely use gasoline getting to them. Global warming wasn't helped by the frequency with which my DW and I used to drive to the large Chester County Library in Exton.

Pennsylvania's best eBook collection is in Pittsburgh. Before the Overdrive era, I had their card, but it's long lost

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Sharing library cards with relatives is a nasty habit I wouldn't admit to if I did it, so any possibilities there need no mention.

Shame, shame...

[John F]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Why do you ask?

...

I was interested in what your aquisition librarian aquired.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by terendel

I'm Juli Monroe, and I'm a writer for TeleRead. Dan asked me to cover this story, and I'm gathering information to send off an email to Mike as a "reporter from TeleRead." No promises that he'll listen to me, but I'll give it a go.

Sorry for taking so long to get to this. Dan emailed me right as I was leaving for a conference, and I just got back.

I've skimmed through the entire thread and played around with the new system at my library (Fairfax County), and I basically agree that the new interface isn't great.

I've made a list of what seemed like the biggest complaints from the thread. Did I get it right? Am I missing something? Has anything from this list been corrected?

1. General hate for thumbnail view and "squashed" book information.
2. Wish list page that allows easy removal, hold requests and checkout
3. Return to the bookbag
4. While browsing, easy links for accessing hold requests, wish lists, bookbag and item on loan
5. More visual indication of a book's availability, especially in what format (so you don't accidentally check out and audio version when what you really wanted was Kindle)
6. Fewer click-throughs! (I completely agree with this. I miss seeing how many library copies are available on my Hold page.)
7. Search for "Add to Cart" on the Wishlist
8. Confirmation that returning a book that you checked out by mistake won't lock your account for "suspicious activity" (Never ran across that one, and I've done several same day returns. Lucky me!)
9. "Available now" to Wishlist filters
10. Going back to the Holds list from checkout instead of being directed to the bookshelf

Does that cover most of it?

I'll keep you posted, and let you know when the story is published.

You've got my biggest complaints in your list.
The only other thing I can think of is to have the "remember me on this device" box default to unchecked. If somebody wants to be remembered, all they have to do is check it once and they're done. As it is, if I don't want to be remembered, I have to uncheck it every single time.