Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyTX
I realize this is a "golden oldie" post, but I'd like to chime in.
The Amarillo library consortium has had Overdrive for at least 4 years. Last year, it added 3M Cloud to the digital offerings.
Couldn't access my Overdrive account in Amarillo last week. Tried several times to no avail. Called the library and was told they decided to drop Overdrive and just offer 3M. "Overdrive just wasn't working out in Amarillo". I agree that the waiting times were very long. However, to me "long lines" mean that something is very popular. My guess is that this was simply a cost cutting move for the city.
No real problem because Houston (10X the population of Amarillo) offers free Overdrive to all Texas residents.
The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded for over a century. Literature is indeed a fine art. It's too bad that a skate board park can trump the library in the city budget.
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Do I have to apply in person at the Houston library? l looked into a long while back and I know I can do the reciprocal thing with my library here (Texshare) but I thought I had to to a branch to get the paperwork in order. For about a year, Houston looked into building its own ebook library (my books were in the program to be added, but it was cancelled after the beta). They probably have a large enough base not to drop overdrive. But I know from working at my own library is it incredibly expensive. INCREDIBLY and it's subscription so the cost never goes away.
Having worked at the library, I can tell you that just about EVERYTHING is funded before the library gets funding. And even when they get certain funding in the yearly budget, it can be taken away the next week. A lot of funding for books and computers actually comes in via grants (and if the city council finds out about the grant at the wrong time of year, they will cut the library budget...)