Kobo + OverDrive with Multiple Libraries

[mobilemoo]

Hey all...

So, I know this subject may have been beaten to death at this point, and to be honest, I've read a lot through this forum but not sure if there's been any definitive fix when it comes to this. I've been combing the Internet and I'm prepared to go far in terms of trying to get this functioning as it should (outside of Kobo specific application code / firmware changes that might be impossible to change). I'm quite competent when it comes to Linux based systems as well as SQL, so I'm not afraid to dig around in this thing to try to get it into a proper state.

So here's the story so far... as of March, it appears there's been one of the latest work arounds (at least that I'm aware of), that allows a user to log into Libby/OverDrive with user credentials instead of their library card, with the sole intention of adding more than one Library to Kobo. Apparently, Kobo or OverDrive has already made attempts to prevent this from working according to this issue on github (which I've been contributing to but haven't had a ton of luck in getting support.

I may be going in the wrong direction in my attempts at getting this to work, but for those that understand the database layout of KoboReader.sqlite, I've been tinkering with the records (adding more) into both the OverDriveLibrary and OverDriveCards tables, in attempt to have Kobo reach out as appropriate to each of the libraries I have selected and let me borrow the books they have to offer.

I've made (what I'd like to believe), some progress... I had at one point added a record for one of the partner libraries that associates with the library I have a card for... I think the problem I'm having (assuming if this is even going to work, at all) is I'm unsure what values I should be using for

OverDriveLibrary.LibraryKey
OverDriveCards.LibraryKey
OverDriveCards.CardId
OverDriveCards.BestLibraryKey
... and in the case of cards I'm attempting to add, the
OverDriveCards.Name values.

Could anyone, with some knowledge of what I'm talking about, and has a Kobo reader that's currently setup and configured for multiple libraries through OverDrive on their device, give me some advice in regards to the records that they currently have in their KoboReader database?

Would really appreciate any advice that others might have, as well as any suggestions to try, etc... really want to get this working!

Thanks!

[toady42]

I have had multiple library cards working on my Kobo device since 2022.

In December 2023 I tried adding a new library card to my OverDrive account with no success. I could still use an OverDrive account (email/password) but I just couldn't add a new card.

At this time I attempted what I believe you're trying to do by manually inserting library details in the OverDriveLibrary and OverDriveCards tables. Unfortunately, I was never able to get it to work.

I believe Kobo resolved the December 2023 issue around August 2024 and I was once again able to add the new library card to my OverDrive account.

In July 2025 OverDrive removed the ability to log onto your Kobo device using an OverDrive account (email/password) effectively removing the ability to set up multiple library cards on Kobo devices.

Now, I will outline what I attempted in December 2023 to manually update the OverDriveLibrary and OverDriveCards tables in order to add the new library.

Since I already had multiple library cards linked, I took a look at the database tables to see what the values for a linked library card looked like.

The OverDriveLibrary table contains a record for the currently active library.

The OverDriveCards table contains records for the libraries currently linked to an OverDrive account.

Here are the values from the tables for my primary library:

Data View of OverDriveLibrary (linked cards)
1. Selected = 'true'
2. WebsiteId = 142
3. LibraryKey = 'ottawa'
4. Name = 'Ottawa Public Library'

Data View of OverDriveCards (linked cards)
1. CardId = 87456798
2. LibraryKey = 'ottawa'
3. BestLibraryKey = 'ottawa'
4. WebsiteId = 142
5. Name = 'Kobo eReader'
6. LastModified = (date)

I then logged into OverDrive using the library card number and PIN for my new library so I could see what values got populated in the OverDriveLibrary and OverDriveCards tables.

Here are the values from the tables:

Data View of OverDriveLibrary (single card)
1. Selected = 'true'
2. WebsiteId = 130223
3. LibraryKey = 'milton'
4. Name = 'Milton Public Library'

Data View of OverDriveCards (single card)
1. CardId = 87366557
2. LibraryKey = 'milton'
3. BestLibraryKey = 'milton-visitor'
4. WebsiteId = 130223
5. Name = (library card number)
6. LastModified = (date)

Then I logged back into my OverDrive account on my Kobo using an already linked library and attempted to insert the following values into the OverDriveCards table. I left the OverDriveLibrary table alone since it correctly contained the last library I just logged into on my Kobo device being my primary library.

Data Insert into OverDriveCards
1. CardId = 87366557
2. LibraryKey = 'milton'
3. BestLibraryKey = 'milton-visitor'
4. WebsiteId = 130223
5. Name = 'Kobo eReader'
6. LastModified = (date)

Basically I took the data for Milton Public Library as a single card and changed the value of Name from (library card number) to 'Kobo eReader' which was also the value of Name for my other linked libraries. Unfortunately, this did not link the Milton Public Library to my OverDrive account.

Now that I have Milton Public Library properly linked to my OverDrive account I will show you the values in the OverDriveLibrary and OverDriveCards tables for it as a linked library.

Data View of OverDriveLibrary (linked cards)
1. Selected = 'true'
2. WebsiteId = 130223
3. LibraryKey = 'milton'
4. Name = 'Milton Public Library'

As you can see, these values are the same for a library as either a single library or an OverDrive account linked library.

Data View of OverDriveCards (linked cards)
1. CardId = 87367291
2. LibraryKey = 'milton'
3. BestLibraryKey = 'milton-visitor'
4. WebsiteId = 130223
5. Name = 'Kobo eReader'
6. LastModified = (date)

As you can see CardId as a linked library is 87367291 whereas CardId as a single library was 87366557.

I believe that's why manually inserting library card data failed. There is no way of knowing the CardId of a linked library until you actually link it to your OverDrive account. Simply using the CardId when logging in as a single card isn't the correct value when it's a linked card.

Note: In the case of multiple libraries linked to your Kobo, under More->Settings->OverDrive you will only ever see the last library logged into which is the active library. You never see a list of linked libraries.

[mobilemoo]

Note: In the case of multiple libraries linked to your Kobo, under More->Settings->OverDrive you will only ever see the last library logged into which is the active library. You never see a list of linked libraries.

Thanks for this note and the detailed info you wrote above. And yes, during my endeavors for this, I too was unsure of what the value was supposed to be for CardId. When I was poking around in the developers tools in my browser, and decoding different request cookies that were being sent to OverDrive after logging in with my Library card to other affiliated libraries, I saw a value for selectedCardId in one of the requests, I personally haven't tried this as a value in the database myself but wasn't sure if that's something you saw yourself as well. The WebsiteId and LibraryKey values however I've found were pretty easy to find simply by making a request against something like the below and reviewing the JSON response

https://thunder.api.overdrive.com/v2...s?websiteid=21

Here's a cookie I decoded that contained the selectedCardId value.. not sure if it's really the value we're looking for or if it would work at any capacity... Question: when you do have multiple libraries linked, I know you said you'd only see the one library in More->Settings->OverDrive, but going through the OverDrive store, is there any other indication of you actually having access to the other libraries you have a membership with? For example, something that actually indicates in the store that you're borrowing from X library?

{
"sub": "120291879",
"auth_time": 1776636040,
"idp": "local",
"puid": "183036345",
"websiteId": "673",
"ilsName": "plsaginaw",
"isSessionUser": "false",
"patronId": "4266248",
"credentialId": "173855045",
"name": "120291879",
"amr": "library",
"expires": "2027-04-19T22:00:40.899Z",
"globalPreferences": {},
"patronUniqueId": 183036345,
"selectedCardId": 104098615,
"linkedCardCount": 1
}

[toady42]

I only ever poked around in the OverDrive tables in the database and never came across selectedCardId.

In your case, does selectedCardId have the same value for the library you're testing as the value of CardId in the OverDriveCards table?

Question: when you do have multiple libraries linked, I know you said you'd only see the one library in More->Settings->OverDrive, but going through the OverDrive store, is there any other indication of you actually having access to the other libraries you have a membership with? For example, something that actually indicates in the store that you're borrowing from X library?

With multiple libraries linked you are only able to browse, place holds and borrow books from one library, the active library, using OverDrive, where the active library is the last library that was linked.

You need to use the Libby app on another platform to browse, place holds and borrow books from the other linked libraries. When you borrow a book in Libby from a linked library you then need to sync your Kobo device in order for the borrowed book to show up on your Kobo.

Since I have multiple libraries linked on my Kobo I use the Libby app to borrow books and then sync my Kobo to read the books on my device. I never use the built-in OverDrive functionality on my Kobo except when I originally linked my library cards.

[mobilemoo]

In your case, does selectedCardId have the same value for the library you're testing as the value of CardId in the OverDriveCards table?

It's not, no.. it's different, and I believe this cookie data was from a login I did using my library card to login to a partner library ( different county library with reciprocity with my residential county library card ). I'll have to test out at some point using that ID with a new record in the OverDriveCards table to see if it changes things. Not having an idea from the OverDrive settings menu on the Kobo makes this a little more difficult than it needs to be.

If I'm not mistaken, the Calibre OverDrive/Libby plug-in that was written like 10 years ago still appears to do what's intended.. can't figure out why Kobo makes this so... Broken.

[mobilemoo]

@toady42 ... Just to confirm, are the OverDrive config options you have in your "Kobo eReader.conf" file in the .kobo directory the same as what I have pasted?

[OverDrive]
overdrive_account=https://auth.overdrive.com/account
overdrive_library=https://{libraryKey}.auth.overdrive.com/library
overdrive_library_finder_host=https://libraryfinder.api.overdrive.com overdrive_thunder_host=https://thunder.api.overdrive.com

[toady42]

Originally Posted by mobilemoo

@toady42 ... Just to confirm, are the OverDrive config options you have in your "Kobo eReader.conf" file in the .kobo directory the same as what I have pasted?

Yes, the OverDrive config options in my .kobo\Kobo\Kobo eReader.conf file is the same as what you have pasted.

[mobilemoo]

Originally Posted by toady42

Yes, the OverDrive config options in my .kobo\Kobo\Kobo eReader.conf file is the same as what you have pasted.

Thanks for that ... When time permits for me, will give another to at adding more libraries to the table and report back if I have any luck. Strangely, with my one library attached to my Kobo (connected to the library to which I got my card from and supports Libby).. borrowing books from the Libby app for me doesn't appear to be syncing the content to my Kobo. Not sure if you or anyone else has experienced the same.

Could maybe mean I just have to start from scratch with the login and try again. At any rate, will keep an update of I find anything useful. Thanks again and much appreciated for the info you provided.

[toady42]

Originally Posted by mobilemoo

Strangely, with my one library attached to my Kobo (connected to the library to which I got my card from and supports Libby).. borrowing books from the Libby app for me doesn't appear to be syncing the content to my Kobo. Not sure if you or anyone else has experienced the same.

You may know this already but below are some details on how OverDrive on your Kobo device syncs with your library.

If you are logged into the same library on your Kobo device via OverDrive as where you borrowed the book on the Libby app, OverDrive will not find the title if the Kobo store does not have the title at all or it has a different edition than your library.

From Kobo chat regarding how books must match between Libby and the Kobo store in order to sync:

"When you borrow a book through Libby and sync it to your Kobo eReader via OverDrive, we use specific metadata to match it with our store catalog.

For a book to sync wirelessly, it must have the same ISBN-13 and publication date as what's available in our global marketplace. Even when ISBNs match, a mismatched product ID can still prevent syncing.

If the borrowed version doesn't match what's currently in our catalog with these exact details, the wireless sync won't work. In that case, you can still transfer the book using Adobe Digital Editions via USB."

Also, if a book is recently added to a library's collection, including newly published books, it can take a day or two from the date the book was added to sync with your Kobo.

In my case, the only time a book hasn't synced for me with one of the linked libraries on my Kobo is as follows:

1. If the Kobo store does not have the title at all or it has a different edition than my library.
2. Above is especially true for public domain books. Libraries seem to have Duke Classics of books like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre where the Kobo store does not have Duke Classics so those books won't end up syncing to the device and they have to be sideloaded using Adobe Digital Editions via USB.
3. If a book is recently added to a library's collection, including newly published books, it can take a day or two from the date the book was added to sync with my Kobo.

Good luck trying to get multiple library cards linked and keep us posted on your progress

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by toady42

they have to be sideloaded using Adobe Digital Editions via USB.

Note that you can also use the ACSM input plugin for Calibre if you want to avoid dealing with ADE.

[mobilemoo]

Originally Posted by toady42

You may know this already but below are some details on how OverDrive on your Kobo device syncs with your library.

If you are logged into the same library on your Kobo device via OverDrive as where you borrowed the book on the Libby app, OverDrive will not find the title if the Kobo store does not have the title at all or it has a different edition than your library.

From Kobo chat regarding how books must match between Libby and the Kobo store in order to sync:

"When you borrow a book through Libby and sync it to your Kobo eReader via OverDrive, we use specific metadata to match it with our store catalog.

For a book to sync wirelessly, it must have the same ISBN-13 and publication date as what's available in our global marketplace. Even when ISBNs match, a mismatched product ID can still prevent syncing.

If the borrowed version doesn't match what's currently in our catalog with these exact details, the wireless sync won't work. In that case, you can still transfer the book using Adobe Digital Editions via USB."

Also, if a book is recently added to a library's collection, including newly published books, it can take a day or two from the date the book was added to sync with your Kobo.

In my case, the only time a book hasn't synced for me with one of the linked libraries on my Kobo is as follows:

1. If the Kobo store does not have the title at all or it has a different edition than my library.
2. Above is especially true for public domain books. Libraries seem to have Duke Classics of books like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre where the Kobo store does not have Duke Classics so those books won't end up syncing to the device and they have to be sideloaded using Adobe Digital Editions via USB.
3. If a book is recently added to a library's collection, including newly published books, it can take a day or two from the date the book was added to sync with my Kobo.

Good luck trying to get multiple library cards linked and keep us posted on your progress

Much appreciated for all the detailed information you've provided. I'm trying various different things to see if I can get it to work, so far haven't had a lot of luck, and on top of that a couple life events occurred recently that has sidetracked me a little. But I won't be dropping my efforts into trying to get this to work so will definitely report back with any success stories. I will say that I have had success in adding a couple patron libraries affiliated with my counties library card, and unless I'm miss understanding, I'm definitely seeing many more borrow options and categories in the OverDrive section of Kobo discovery. I've been playing with just adding only 1 or 2 of the total amount I'm able to login with my card.

However, when attempting to actually borrow a book I'm getting an error in the logs, can't recall exactly what the error was at this time but I believe it either has to do with the LibraryKey value I'm using or the Authorization Token that Kobo is trying to use to borrow the books. You wouldn't happen to know how Kobo is actually trying to authenticate with OverDrive during that initial library login on the Kobo would you? I see that there are some tokens in the users table of the database, but I don't think those are used for the login, I could be mistaken but there should be a auth bearer token somewhere that Kobo is using to actually authorize itself with Overdrive/Libby.

If I had to guess this might be part of the puzzle to all this, if you tried to login to one of your libraries on Libby using your standard browser, you'll be making requests to libbyapp.com with that token and if for example you use that same token against the "https://sentry.libbyapp.com/chip/sync" endpoint you'll be presented with information such as CardId, and other information depending on which data you're posting to it. (Don't have full details in front of me regarding it so can't post it all at the moment).

Thing is that programmatically I'm not sure how Kobo is actually authenticating against these types of requests. I don't see anything else side from the few records in the user table that would resemble the token it's using to authenticate with..

[toady42]

Originally Posted by mobilemoo

You wouldn't happen to know how Kobo is actually trying to authenticate with OverDrive during that initial library login on the Kobo would you?

Unfortunately, I don't.

Eventually I came to the conclusion, and maybe it's an incorrect conclusion, that it's a two-step process: authentication and validation.

Kobo authenticates with OverDrive then it validates against the library cards that are linked to your OverDrive account. If the library card is not linked to your OverDrive account then it's a no-go.

I came to this conclusion because during testing I created a new Kobo account and a new OverDrive account. This is where I get the spinning wheel screen trying to Add a Library Card like everyone else using a newly created OverDrive account. So, I decided to log into my already-existing OverDrive account with library cards already linked and when I initially chose my library and then used the workaround to login using my OverDrive account I did not have to Add a Library Card. It was like I was automatically logged into the library since it was already linked to my OverDrive account and any books I currently had borrowed from the linked libraries were synced to my Kobo. I did not have to log into each library individually, even though I was using a new Kobo account, since they were already linked to my OverDrive account.