Philadelphia Free Library down

[NNolan]

I find Philadelphia wait times very reasonable.

I'm not having any problems with Philly wait times either. I think the longest I've waited for a book was a bit over 2 months, and that was for the latest Follett book and I was about #30 on the waitlist when I was added to the list.

[JSWolf]

I'm having trouble. I've been getting 503 errors recently.

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.

Yes, it is up and it is very slow.

[dordale]

I've just went to check on a couple of my libraries (Philadelphia and some local ones here in California). They all seem to be slow, and I'm getting error messages here and there. Seems like the common denominator is Overdrive.

dordale

[abookreader]

Finally seems to be working this morning.

[TallMomof2]

Overdrive must be down again, neither of my two libraries are working.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Overdrive must be down again, neither of my two libraries are working.

Well, I emailed OverDrive about this and finally got their reply:

All your library are belong to us.

[John F]

I got this message at freelibrary.org:

The Free Library's downloadable media site has been experiencing error messages or slow page loads. According to Overdrive (the vendor), this temporary slowdown is due to an unprecedented spike in traffic following Christmas. Although they expected a surge in usage after the holiday, your interest in eBook and audiobook downloads was greater than anyone anticipated.

Overdrive is currently managing traffic to ensure that as many people as possible have access to downloadable media, and they are working to add new hardware and bandwidth capacity to get our downloadable media site back to normal in the next 48 to 72 hours. In the meantime, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Overdrive is extending the hold period for books to 5 days (from 3 days) so users will have more time to try to get into the site.

If you experience a delay in accessing the site, please keep trying. The site is still running, just VERY slowly. If you have questions or problems with holds, please contact us via our "Ask a Librarian" email form. We will forward all requests to Overdrive's tech support.

The downloadable media site should start to load in your browser within 30 seconds; click here if the page refresh does not begin automatically.

[tubemonkey]

Overdrive is currently managing traffic to ensure that as many people as possible have access to downloadable media, and they are working to add new hardware and bandwidth capacity to get our downloadable media site back to normal in the next 48 to 72 hours. In the meantime, we apologize for the inconvenience.

You know what that means? I see a price increase in the near future, which means cash-strapped libraries will be cutting back or eliminating what they get from OverDrive.

[yekim54]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Well, I emailed OverDrive about this and finally got their reply:

All your library are belong to us.

"Somebody set up us the book."

[kelliedn]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For an eBook that has a maximum of 14-day borrow time, we'll get 26 borrows a year. So if the library has 1 copy and you are #27, you have to wait more then a year to get it. Some libraries allow 2 or 3 days wait time before it goes back into the collection. So given that we can have an extra 2 or 3 days added on, probably more like 25 borrows. And some libraries allow 21 day borrowing for a total of 17 borrows per year.

I think most people stick to the default borrow period and that's whatever the maximum time is. Most do not know that if they borrow ePub or PDF that they can return it once they are done. So it'll just sit there with the unused days being wasted.

However, one thing they also do not realize is that once the eBook is downloaded, it may be on the computer forever. When it's deleted or returned via ADE, it's not actually deleted. All that happens is the expired copy is removed from the list. It's still sitting there in the Digital Editions directory taking up space.

Please tell me, how do I return an ebook to the library when I am done reading it?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by kelliedn

Please tell me, how do I return an ebook to the library when I am done reading it?

When you open Adobe Digital Edition and show the books you have borrowed, there's a small arrow in the upper left corner (element options). If you click on it, one of the options is "Return the element" (or something like that, I've got the Spanish version). If you click it, you return the element to the library.

[kelliedn]

Oh geez, I just figured it out. I use the Sony Reader Library and all I did was right click on a book in it and it has the option to "return borrowed item" Wish I'd known about that sooner! Thank you!

[Canuck_in_Japan]

I just learned that too. Imagine how many days are wasted because people don't know how to return books once they're finished with them.

[Kiasmama]

I haven't been able to get onto the Philly library since mid december so I'm not sure I buy the "Christmas traffic" stuff. I guess I'll just have to keep trying.

EDIT: they seem to be up tonight and to my surprise they added some copies of books. I'll have to donate to them tomorrow.

[SeaBookGuy]

Since New Year's their servers have been as fast as, if not faster than, they were before the Xmas Day Mess.