New Search Page for Overdrive?

[eschwartz]

Well, I have caused a real revolution I see!

I'm so popular today.

I even got a PM about how awesome my suggestion was.

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, I have caused a real revolution I see!

I'm so popular today.

I even got a PM about how awesome my suggestion was.

It is indeed very awesome, I do not know why I have been doing manual searches directly on the libraries site, especially since I have cards for 3 libraries.

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

That being said, my favorite search frontend for overdrive is the overdrive link plugin for calibre. It searches all configured libraries, shows you all books by the author you searched, listing title, author, series, and links to available libraries, even listing the ones where it can be recommended, and saves the results for future reference!!

John Howell is officially my hero!

I've been using this plugin for quite awhile now. It's just awesome!

[srand_us]

Thank you, Gunner. However, the plugin doesn't show on my list. It may not have installed, I am not sure. New to Calibre and have always had problems with installing if an option doesn't come up automatically. What can I do?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by srand_us

Thank you, Gunner. However, the plugin doesn't show on my list. It may not have installed, I am not sure. New to Calibre and have always had problems with installing if an option doesn't come up automatically. What can I do?

You must manually install it. All user-installed plugins can be found at Preferences ==> Plugins ==> Get new plugins. See screenshot.

There will be a filter for the plugins to select between installed, not installed, update available, and all.

If an update is available for anything on that list, it will also show that where it shows a new version of calibre available -- it will be checked when calibre is started.

[Gunnerp245]

Originally Posted by srand_us

Thank you, Gunner. However, the plugin doesn't show on my list. It may not have installed, I am not sure. New to Calibre and have always had problems with installing if an option doesn't come up automatically. What can I do?

From preferences on the toolbar select "Get Plugins to enhance calibre". This will involve the User Plugins; "Opens a new window that shows plugins for calibre. These plugins are developed by third parties to extend calibre‘s functionality."

[srand_us]

Hmmm. Thought I posted here before but will repeat. I was able to download the plug-in (I guess) but saw no option to install it. Win7, Google Chrome

Thanks again for help.

[srand_us]

Thanks to all, I have successfully installed the plug-in. Now...how to use it? Sorry, but I need a guide, I guess. Are there instructions online? I am eager to start using this thing.

All help greatly appreciated.

[eschwartz]

In the menu dropdown for the plugin icon, there is an option to "customize plugin". You need to fill in your library information. More details are in the "help" item on the same dropdown, also accessible via the help button in "customize plugin".

[SteveEisenberg]

Hopefully I am missing something, but search.overdrive.com seems to have finally deteriorated to the point of near-worthlessness. The problem is that they are now only recommending libraries that are physically nearby.

Here's how it worked for me today:

I searched at search.overdrive.com for Winter in Madrid by C. J. Sansom.

The search returned eBooks from three different publishers, these apparently being for the US, Canada, and UK. That's reasonable. Then, I clicked on the "Penguin Group US" version, and then clicked on "Find in a Library." Here's the essence of what I got back:

Finding 'Winter in Madrid' in libraries near Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, US:

Showing 1 to 1 of 1 entries

Name Region Country Zip Distance
Monmouth County Library-Allentown (Monmouth County Library) New Jersey United States 08501 38.36 mi.

I am not a member of this library, so the information is irrelevant.

I then went to what is probably the largest Overdrive collection where we do have borrowing privileges, Brooklyn:

http://digitalbooks.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/

And I was able to borrow the book from there.

So unless I am missing something, search.overdrive.com is now liable to recommend libraries in New Jersey for which we don't have borrowing privileges, rather than more distant ones in Pennsylvania or New York, where my immediate family does.

Two options I can think of.

One is to check library web sites one by one.

Another might be to somehow hide from Overdrive where we live, in the hopes their software will go back to showing results from all world libraries. Does anyone know how to do this?

All ideas welcome.

[tubemonkey]

How many libraries do you belong to? I never use search.overdrive. I just open up the OD pages of the four libraries I use most and start searching. If that fails, I tap into my final four. If that fails, I find something else to read and take the first book off my TBR list.

[silverraven]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Hopefully I am missing something, but search.overdrive.com seems to have finally deteriorated to the point of near-worthlessness. The problem is that they are now only recommending libraries that are physically nearby.

Here's how it worked for me today:

I searched at search.overdrive.com for Winter in Madrid by C. J. Sansom.

The search returned eBooks from three different publishers, these apparently being for the US, Canada, and UK. That's reasonable. Then, I clicked on the "Penguin Group US" version, and then clicked on "Find in a Library." Here's the essence of what I got back:



I am not a member of this library, so the information is irrelevant.

I then went to what is probably the largest Overdrive collection where we do have borrowing privileges, Brooklyn:

http://digitalbooks.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/

And I was able to borrow the book from there.

So unless I am missing something, search.overdrive.com is now liable to recommend libraries in New Jersey for which we don't have borrowing privileges, rather than more distant ones in Pennsylvania or New York, where my immediate family does.

Two options I can think of.

One is to check library web sites one by one.

Another might be to somehow hide from Overdrive where we live, in the hopes their software will go back to showing results from all world libraries. Does anyone know how to do this?

All ideas welcome.

I absolutely hate this feature! I want to see all the libraries from all the different states that have the books. What if I am checking for someone else in another state?
Ugh, just bring back the old site!!
S

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Another might be to somehow hide from Overdrive where we live, in the hopes their software will go back to showing results from all world libraries. Does anyone know how to do this?

All ideas welcome.

For internet explorer it is settings>internet options>advanced.
To block all websites that you've already allowed to find your approximate location, click Clear sites
The same for Chrome IIRC.

Helen

[dandelioncottage]

I hate this feature too and would love to hear some workarounds. The only thing I've figured out is to type in my country name in the right-hand search box and then sort by state (I have quite a few cards in my own state, plus some non-resident cards). Still time-consuming. I can't imagine why Overdrive thinks this is an improvement.

Originally Posted by silverraven

I absolutely hate this feature! I want to see all the libraries from all the different states that have the books. What if I am checking for someone else in another state?
Ugh, just bring back the old site!!
S

[eschwartz]

A I said before, I think the best way to search for OverDrive books is this:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

If I want to know what is available at OverDrive libraries, I use the OverDrive Link plugin for calibre, which also saves a list of available books.

It has been switched to use individual libraries for searching, since the change is more invasive than you thought:



It is totally automated and thus awesome in every way.

It even lets you search for books that can be recommended at libraries that support recommendation, which is awesome!

It can be configured with the libraries you use, and saves a list of all books available or recommendable there that meet your search, linking directly to the book details page.

Located at: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=187919