Overdrive Redesign

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

That could very well be it. I wasn't really paying attention to which ones were on hold before and after.

, but I actually remember these things anyway.

That was my experience.

[JSWolf]

delete post

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

How does the suspend feature work? I didn't see anything in my library's help.

This is from Overdrive.

Suspending a hold lets you choose a window of time where you'll make progress on a title's waiting list without having the title become available for you to borrow. For example, you might want to suspend a hold for a popular eBook if you're on a long waiting list for it, but know you'll be unable to read it because you're in the middle of another title. If you make it to the first place in the waiting list while your hold is suspended, the title will go to the next user in line until your suspension period is over.

I like the way this works. I'll be using it for some of my holds while I am on vacation at the end of October.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is from Overdrive.



I like the way this works. I'll be using it for some of my holds while I am on vacation at the end of October.

Thanks. Thus does sound pretty good.

[elemenoP]

Yeah, the suspend feature sounds great. If you put several books on hold at the same time, even if they have vastly different queues, they always seem to come in at the same time. I would use the suspend feature to manage this.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Yeah, the suspend feature sounds great. If you put several books on hold at the same time, even if they have vastly different queues, they always seem to come in at the same time. I would use the suspend feature to manage this.

Or just use the suspend on principle? Fill up queue, put all on hold and right after on suspend and wait. Then eventually after a while you are on spot 2 for all ofthem and you unsuspend in the order you want to read them? Not sure though if that is the intended feature.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I don't know how long it's been there, but when I was checking to see if you could choose to "auto checkout" as a default, I found a new (to me) option to choose a "maturity" range for searching and browsing. I generally just search by "all epub in the last 7 days" and some days it's nothing but golden or scholastic books.

So I'm experimenting with removing "Juvenile" from my range. I think there might be the occasional Young Adult I'd be willing to see, so I'm leaving those.

The ability to filter search results by age is fantastic! It has made it so much easier and faster to search now. Saved me a good bit of time this morning to sort through new additions and update my wish list.

[JSWolf]

I've decided that having auto checkout on by default is a very bad idea. What it does is cause an eBook to automatically be sent to someone's bookshelf when that person gets to the front of the line. Fine, I get that it can be useful. But, it also means that it can also sit in that bookshelf for days/weeks before it's looked at/dealt with if ever. So that means that instead of going to the next person in line after borrow period expires, it sits in someones bookshelf for a long time just doing nothing. Not being downloaded and read. So that makes the line even longer.

Auto checkout should be off by default and on only if the borrower turns it on after the eBook in in the hold self.

[CWatkinsNash]

Oh. Overdrive... So I had turned off auto-checkout for most of my holds, and I had suspended three of them. I got a notice this morning that one of my holds was available. I went to the site, and trying to borrow it gives me nothing but a database error. Then I noticed that the books that I had suspended the holds for are no longer showing as suspended.

I'll keep trying to borrow the one that came in, and if it doesn't resolve itself by this evening, I'll contact support. I guess they just have kinks to work out with the new features.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I guess they just have kinks to work out with the new features.

It's not a bug, it's feature.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Oh. Overdrive... So I had turned off auto-checkout for most of my holds, and I had suspended three of them. I got a notice this morning that one of my holds was available. I went to the site, and trying to borrow it gives me nothing but a database error. Then I noticed that the books that I had suspended the holds for are no longer showing as suspended.

I'll keep trying to borrow the one that came in, and if it doesn't resolve itself by this evening, I'll contact support. I guess they just have kinks to work out with the new features.

I have had the auto borrow work just fine. When you go to borrow an eBook, there is a check box for auto hold that is automatically checked and you have to uncheck it to turn off auto checkout. You can still go to the holds and turn off auto checkout. But because it's on by default, most people are not going to turn it off and when their turn comes, right to the bookshelf it goes and if they would have not picked it up in time for it to expire in a few days, we have to then wait the full borrow time (in most cases) for it. This is why having auto checkout on by default is wrong.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've decided that having auto checkout on by default is a very bad idea. What it does is cause an eBook to automatically be sent to someone's bookshelf when that person gets to the front of the line. Fine, I get that it can be useful. But, it also means that it can also sit in that bookshelf for days/weeks before it's looked at/dealt with if ever. So that means that instead of going to the next person in line after borrow period expires, it sits in someones bookshelf for a long time just doing nothing. Not being downloaded and read. So that makes the line even longer..

Yep. While there's a slight offset from the time gained between availability and being checked out, it won't nearly compensate for the books that wouldn't have been checked out at all, especially since those who routinely take full advantage of the borrow period (four days in Boston, just as one example) will be sure to uncheck auto checkout.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

Yep. While there's a slight offset from the time gained between availability and being checked out, it won't nearly compensate for the books that wouldn't have been checked out at all, especially since those who routinely take full advantage of the borrow period (four days in Boston, just as one example) will be sure to uncheck auto checkout.

If I was on say 7 day borrow normally, I might up it to 14 days just because of auto checkout because if I lose any time while it's in the borrow shelf, I won't lose any reading time.

So really, this could cause the wait times to be much longer then they were before auto checkout.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But, it also means that it can also sit in that bookshelf for days/weeks before it's looked at/dealt with if ever. So that means that instead of going to the next person in line after borrow period expires, it sits in someones bookshelf for a long time just doing nothing. Not being downloaded and read. So that makes the line even longer.

Auto checkout should be off by default and on only if the borrower turns it on after the eBook in in the hold self.

Why do you say that? At the worst, why wouldn't it expire like any other book on the bookshelf?

I've let books auto-checkout, but not gotten to them that first day. The number of days before expiration has been reduced by that day I missed (so instead of my standard default of 7, it showed 6 days, like any book I manually checked out the day before).

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Why do you say that? At the worst, why wouldn't it expire like any other book on the bookshelf?

I've let books auto-checkout, but not gotten to them that first day. The number of days before expiration has been reduced by that day I missed (so instead of my standard default of 7, it showed 6 days, like any book I manually checked out the day before).

The assumption is that everybody returns the books before the 7 or whichever your default is. But if they do out of curtesy to make others wait shorter, than the auto checkout takes longer anyway. Not everybody wants to hurry through a book or has the time to do so, so it doesn't really matter that much does it?