Do Libraries have eBooks not available on the net?

[JSWolf]

It seems to me that a lot of people are looking into library eBooks after having purchased a reader that cannot handle library eBooks. Why not look into library eBooks BEFORE the purchase of a reader?

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

What is the advantage of getting your eBooks from your local library?
Is it just to avoid buying them? Or are there books you can get from
the library that you can't find elsewhere?

Am I missing out on something if I have a reader that can't do Adobe
DRM?

Can't find elsewhere?

Well, let's take a backlist paperback novel by a bestselling author before she became a bestseller. This book is not available in a local bookstore, and cannot be special ordered since it is out of print. The library *system* may have a copies floating around in it but since these books are 10-15 years old many have been damaged or lost, and the one branch that has a copy is in the tiny branch 20 miles away. I can go to Amazon and find a used book seller who will sell it to me--with creases and a coffeestain-- for $15.99 plus $3.99 s&h.

Or I can go to overdrive, click it up on my computer, and be reading it within minutes as long as there isn't a hold on it (and there is often is a hold on it, but I've never had to wait more than a few weeks for a book).

Books can be read on ADE so you don't need a reader that handles the DRM unless your eyes can't handle reading on a backlit screen.

(By which I mean to say my local digital library consortium has all Lisa Kleypas's backlist, and I've never seen the complete collection anywhere else. This is actually kind of unusual; it is more usual for the library to have books 3 and 5 of a given series and none other, but if you're ready to read book 3 or 5, it's there).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Can't find elsewhere?

Well, let's take a backlist paperback novel by a bestselling author before she became a bestseller. This book is not available in a local bookstore, and cannot be special ordered since it is out of print. The library *system* may have a copies floating around in it but since these books are 10-15 years old many have been damaged or lost, and the one branch that has a copy is in the tiny branch 20 miles away. I can go to Amazon and find a used book seller who will sell it to me--with creases and a coffeestain-- for $15.99 plus $3.99 s&h.

Or I can go to overdrive, click it up on my computer, and be reading it within minutes as long as there isn't a hold on it (and there is often is a hold on it, but I've never had to wait more than a few weeks for a book).

Books can be read on ADE so you don't need a reader that handles the DRM unless your eyes can't handle reading on a backlit screen.

(By which I mean to say my local digital library consortium has all Lisa Kleypas's backlist, and I've never seen the complete collection anywhere else. This is actually kind of unusual; it is more usual for the library to have books 3 and 5 of a given series and none other, but if you're ready to read book 3 or 5, it's there).

Actually, you cannot go to Overdrive to get the eBook. Your library has to go to Overdrive to get it so then you can borrow it.

And the libraries here do have inter-branch loaning. So that item that's in the branch that's 20 miles away will eventually be delivered to the branch of my choice and put on hold for me.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

What is the advantage of getting your eBooks from your local library?

They're free to borrow.

But you won't find, in general, ebooks not on sale elsewhere. And some publishers, like Macmillian, refuse to let libraries lend out their ebooks.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, you cannot go to Overdrive to get the eBook. Your library has to go to Overdrive to get it so then you can borrow it.

I go to the MD or DC overdrive site and point and click and a minute later I am reading, is what I meant.

And the libraries here do have inter-branch loaning. So that item that's in the branch that's 20 miles away will eventually be delivered to the branch of my choice and put on hold for me.

Eventually but either way it is a bit of a hassle. Also I just discovered that they no longer charge you to put something on hold. They used to!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Joykins

I go to the MD or DC overdrive site and point and click and a minute later I am reading, is what I meant.

Which is only what the respective libraries have decided to purchase.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Which is only what the respective libraries have decided to purchase.

True! But there is so much there to read if you like vampire romance and cliff notes!

[craftyduchess]

Im From Philippines and im happy to be a part of the forum. I love books eversince I was a young child.I think it is inborn. I still love paperbacks but im ecstatic to discover the benefits of ebook. I have 2500+ books in my calibre library and counting

[canuck100]

Originally Posted by thename

Most libraries use Overdrive for their ebook lending . . . .

My library (epl.ca) uses the following sources:
EBSCO eBooks
Freading
Overdrive
for books downloadable to my Kobo Aura.

ETA: Like FREADING because there is no limit on the number of copies the library can lend at one time. EBSCO and Overdrive have limits which means that a popular title needs to be placed "on hold" as one would for a regular print book.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

What I was wondering about is if the library eBook offerings were something that might be unavailable some place else.

If you count https://openlibrary.org/, yes. However, those books are uncorrected scans. When I go to that web site, it says at the top of the home page:

Hello! The State of Pennsylvania is participating in our eBook lending program

So I suppose it is somehow funded by my tax dollars, just like the library down the street.

The closest example I can think of beyond this is when you pay an out of area fee to a library and live in another country where the set of marketed eBooks is somewhat different.

Perhaps there have been a very few ebooks where the library bought a long term license from Overdrive, and then the ebook stopped being marketed. If I notice one, maybe I'll remember to revive this thread when I find it.

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by craftyduchess

Im From Philippines and im happy to be a part of the forum. I love books eversince I was a young child.I think it is inborn. I still love paperbacks but im ecstatic to discover the benefits of ebook. I have 2500+ books in my calibre library and counting

Welcome! I have had an ebook reader since late 2008, and love it and Mobileread more and more every year! And good move to start right off with caliber, which is the best thing since sliced bread!