[GUI Plugin] Overdrive Link

[LilyEvie]

Sorry this took so long but I want to thank you for the quick fix.

I just hope Bucks leaves their site alone for awhile.

I think I have said this before, but this is my favorite plugin.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by LilyEvie

Sorry this took so long but I want to thank you for the quick fix.

I just hope Bucks leaves their site alone for awhile.

Your're welcome.

I don't have an account with any OverDrive library that has upgraded to the new layout so I don't recognize immediately when they make a website change and it is harder for me to test.

The migration of the bulk of the OverDrive sites to the new layout is supposed to begin in about a month. That should give me the ability to better support the new site layout and once the rollout is complete I will have one less site layout to support in the plugin.

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I generally put the same book on hold at only one or two libraries, the ones with the shortest wait time. I use tags to keep track of what books I have on hold at which libraries. Things like "hold.ocls" or "hold.bpl". That makes it easy to search for books on hold across libraries

Tags here as well, but I only put items on hold at one library, and usually the one with the longest wait, because there are so many books that are available for checkout that I can fill the time easily.

And, with several of my libraries having far more checkout slots than hold slots, the number of holds is a more limiting factor for me.

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

I belong to a lot of libraries and it can get to be a hassle keeping track of borrows and holds. I was thinking of configuring a custom column or two for status, e.g. "borrowed", "hold"... and the date the action occurred.

I also created a custom "Series" column that I use to track desired order to borrow/hold, so if I do run low on slots, I can pick from the top of the list.

If you are worried about return dates and getting to books, you could add a custom date column if you want the exact due date tracked.

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I don't have an account with any OverDrive library that has upgraded to the new layout so I don't recognize immediately when they make a website change and it is harder for me to test.

One of my libraries is announcing "Changing soon", so if I run into any issues after the change, I'll give you whatever help you need (HTML page saves, etc.).

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

Tags here as well, but I only put items on hold at one library, and usually the one with the longest wait, because there are so many books that are available for checkout that I can fill the time easily.

And, with several of my libraries having far more checkout slots than hold slots, the number of holds is a more limiting factor for me.


I also created a custom "Series" column that I use to track desired order to borrow/hold, so if I do run low on slots, I can pick from the top of the list.

If you are worried about return dates and getting to books, you could add a custom date column if you want the exact due date tracked.

My multiple holds are usually to get the next book in a series as quickly as possible. For others I often suspend them for the max duration...

Isn't the Series column standard? I don't remember creating it when implementing the Import plugin, which populates it when it creates the empty books, though it usually needs some editing, at least when sourced from fantasticfiction.

My hope would be that if the availability search can be enhanced to return checkouts and holds, the checkout info would include due date...

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Isn't the Series column standard?

Yeah...I meant I created a custom column of type "Series" (I called it "Priority"), so that I can have ordered lists of books to borrow, to read, etc.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

One of my libraries is announcing "Changing soon", so if I run into any issues after the change, I'll give you whatever help you need (HTML page saves, etc.).

Thanks, but I think I will wait for one of my libraries to switch over. It will be a lot less work for me that way.

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

My hope would be that if the availability search can be enhanced to return checkouts and holds, the checkout info would include due date...

You could create a custom column to keep track of this yourself. I'll consider this for the future, but right now I think it will be more effort to implement than it is worth for me.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Right now, the main Overdrive site isn't working properly. So if that impacts your use of this plugin, you'll have to wait until Overdrive is fixed. Local libraries seem to be working.

Overdrive is working.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

One of my libraries is announcing "Changing soon", so if I run into any issues after the change, I'll give you whatever help you need (HTML page saves, etc.).

You better get down on your knees and pray to the eBook gods that your library does not change. I have one minor library that is using the new site and it's awful.

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have one minor library that is using the new site and it's awful.

Although the new version uses larger image and font sizes, a couple of quick "Zoom Outs" with Firefox puts it back to pretty much the same amount of info on the page as before.

The only thing I really miss is the account summary page (the one with "Checkout limit: 20", "Titles checked out: 11", "Hold limit: 10", "Titles on hold: 9") all in one neat box.

On the other hand, the new "#14 on 4 copies" vs. the old "4 people ahead of you" (these are actual numbers from the same book) give me a much better idea of when the book will be available for me.

As for searches...yeah, having the text you enter in any box in the "Adanced Search" be an "or" of every word is stupid, but if you use the search box at the top of the page, it does the same as now ("and" with some fuzziness). So, the only change that I'll notice is that you can't easily restrict to all ebook formats without using the "Advanced Search"

This plugin does all my searching for me, so I only use the website search a few times a month...not really a big deal.

[lairdb]

Looking at today's announcement of Prime Reading -- has anyone figured out how the available books do or don't map to Kindle Unlimited or KOLL?

I did find jhowell's post 266, which has a good discussion of KU, KOLL, etc. that I hadn't previusly known about, and my quick test shows that appears to work (test item 9781503951518, which I believe to be in all of KU, KOLL, and KPR.)

If the KPR set matches one of the other sets exactly, we could just use that, otherwise perhaps the great jhowell (PBUH) could add another library-id.

ETA: Prime Reading (KPR) is definitely not identical to KU or KOLL inventories: B017ROWVU8 is an example item that is in KU (and KOLL accodring to the plugin) but is not in KPR.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by lairdb

Looking at today's announcement of Prime Reading -- has anyone figured out how the available books do or don't map to Kindle Unlimited or KOLL?

The Prime Reading catalog is a small subset of popular books from Kindle Unlimited. I believe that it was created as an advertisement for the full service.

You can search Prime Reading using: https://www.amazon.com/s/?fap=1&unfi...%3D14807080011

I will add the ability to search this catalog in the next release of the plugin.

[nabsltd]

Another low-priority feature request:

If a date column named "ol_last_checked" exists, then when a search for books or an update to availability is run, fill in the column with the date/time of the end of the job.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

Another low-priority feature request:

If a date column named "ol_last_checked" exists, then when a search for books or an update to availability is run, fill in the column with the date/time of the end of the job.

You can accomplish the same thing by selecting a set of books, starting a search with the plugin, and then using Edit Metadata. The Custom metadata tab will have a button to set your custom date field to today for the selected books. You would have to remember to do this each time, but such is life.

I have added it to my list of possible future features, but I may never get around to actually implementing it.

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by jhowell

You can accomplish the same thing by selecting a set of books, starting a search with the plugin, and then using Edit Metadata. The Custom metadata tab will have a button to set your custom date field to today for the selected books.

That's exactly what I do, so I've got it covered.

I've gotten to the point that I feel like I need to reduce the number of updates for availability, with so many libraries and so many books, but it's hard to remember what got updated when. Now, it's just a saved search for #ol_last_checked:>=7daysago.

I have added it to my list of possible future features, but I may never get around to actually implementing it.

As I said, low-priority, so whenever (if ever) is fine.