Quote:
Originally Posted by Victoria
Thanks for the background. That makes sense.
I just realized that about Overdrive. I always check my library first, and have assumed if it isn’t in mine, it isn’t available anywhere. But Charlie recently mentioned a book being available, and it wasn’t in mine. So it must depend on each library’s local budget.
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A great deal depends on their budget! I really see the difference between my two libraries. One is the BC Provincial library -- it's ebooks and audio books for the entire province. (Each library contributes, I'm told, but they get a better deal by combining them for the entire province.)
Compare that to one I have access to in the Seattle area which serves more actual users (All those Kindles in Seattle!), but which has both a bigger selection, and generally shorter wait times. (For example, when Michelle Obama's
Becoming came out, they had initially
only ordered ~150 each of the eBook and the audio book. They quickly changed that, adding first another ~150, then finally an additional ~100. The wait list at that point was still nearly six months for each, but now is down to a mere 2 weeks on the
412 copies they have.) The wait in BC for the book is several years if everyone keeps it for 3 weeks.
If you have a way to have access to other libraries, it can be worth the effort. I wasn't too worried about it while I was working, but now that I'm fully retired I very much need to pay attention. So I've been leveraging both libraries to keep the book club costs down.
ETA: You can check if a book is available at Overdrive at all by going directly to the Overdrive site and searching there, and you can check if it's available in Canada by checking if you can Recommend it while logged in to your library.