[GUI Plugin] Overdrive Link

[lairdb]

I am experiencing an apparent problem in searching for additional books by a known author.

calibre, version 2.51.0
: Overdrive Link found: 2 warnings in searching. (click "View log" for details). 1 book/library link unchanged<p>No changes will be made.

Key: *=Discovered book, @=Available at, !=Recommendable at, $=Purchasable at, #=Audiobook

--------------- WARNINGS WHILE SEARCHING  ---------------

Already in calibre, not selected for search (possibly missing links): Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner [Known Space [01], c12c1a8e-6e1a-472c-92fe-eb94a9dfac79@sdcl.lib.overdrive.com, 9781429920032, Tom Doherty Associates, 2008-08-26T00:00:00+00:00, English]

Already in calibre, not selected for search (possibly missing links): Juggler of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner [Known Space [02], a06e9506-ef33-4138-b2cb-a9de7ffb5bbf@sdcl.lib.overdrive.com, 9781429951418, Tom Doherty Associates, 2010-04-02T00:00:00+00:00, English]

As you can see, I have those two books already, and they have SDCL links already. There are a total of 6 books at SDCL by that author, but "Search for books by selected authors" looks like it's not even trying, for no evident reason.


(Edited to remove second issue that wasn't an issue.)

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by lairdb

I am experiencing an apparent problem in searching for additional books by a known author.

Already in calibre, not selected for search (possibly missing links): Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner [Known Space [01], c12c1a8e-6e1a-472c-92fe-eb94a9dfac79@sdcl.lib.overdrive.com, 9781429920032, Tom Doherty Associates, 2008-08-26T00:00:00+00:00, English]

Already in calibre, not selected for search (possibly missing links): Juggler of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner [Known Space [02], a06e9506-ef33-4138-b2cb-a9de7ffb5bbf@sdcl.lib.overdrive.com, 9781429951418, Tom Doherty Associates, 2010-04-02T00:00:00+00:00, English]

As you can see, I have those two books already, and they have SDCL links already. There are a total of 6 books at SDCL by that author, but "Search for books by selected authors" looks like it's not even trying, for no evident reason.

The "Search for books by selected authors" function tries to match the selected books from your calibre library and in addition discovers books by the same author(s) that are not currently in your calibre library.

The search summary dialog only shows changes. If a selected book is already linked or a new book was already discovered by a prior search then it won't appear again in the summary.

Any books in your library by the same author that are not selected when you start the search are ignored and the "Already in calibre, not selected for search" warning is produced. This is proper functioning of the plugin by design. It only works on selected books.

If you still believe that something isn't working properly I will need a full log from a search to diagnose this further.

[lairdb]

(Different from my previous note; I still need to research if that's a real problem.)

I have only EPUB and Mobi/Kindle checked in the plugin preferences, but the plugin returned http://sfpl.axis360.baker-taylor.com...mId=0011654101, which is only available in the semi-proprietary Axis 360 format (Blio, if I remember correctly, which I have explicitly deselected).

?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by lairdb

I have only EPUB and Mobi/Kindle checked in the plugin preferences, but the plugin returned http://sfpl.axis360.baker-taylor.com...mId=0011654101, which is only available in the semi-proprietary Axis 360 format (Blio, if I remember correctly, which I have explicitly deselected).

If you look at the web page that you linked, on the right under "Select a format" you will see that book is available in three formats: Axis 360 eBook (Blio), EPUB and PDF.

[lairdb]

Sigh. I'll own this one; my apologies. In my defense, this is what I see if I'm logged in:



What I had forgotten: about a week ago, trying to get this same book, I found a UI problem in the Axis360 UI that sometimes checks out a Blio even if you requested an epub. So, I'm already in a checked out state with this book, which is why it's pushing me toward the (useless) (checked out) Blio.

[cc_in_oh]

Is it OK to ask for some basic help here or is there a better thread for that?

From the help I thought Library ID was just the library's homepage address, but I've tried 3 and all just give me Unknown Overdrive library website layout. e.g.

http://www.columbuslibrary.org

I also tried the address for one library's logon screen with same result.

(I searched thread for Library ID but no hits...)

Thank you...

[eschwartz]

No, you need http://clc.lib.overdrive.com (the homepage of the OverDrive library).

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

No, you need http://clc.lib.overdrive.com (the homepage of the OverDrive library).

Thank you for fast response - do I find the addresses in the Overdrive app? I tried the Open In Browser button but got something different...

Edit> I should say I'm new to both Overdrive and Calibre so please bear with me...

[eschwartz]

The OverDrive catalog was a link in the site navigation of the main library website.

I assume if you are trying to configure the calibre plugin, you have a desktop computer with a browser handy, not sure why you were trying to find a website url in the dedicated smartphone app...

[lairdb]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Thank you for fast response - do I find the addresses in the Overdrive app? I tried the Open In Browser button but got something different...

Edit> I should say I'm new to both Overdrive and Calibre so please bear with me...

You can do it via your browser -- in Columbus's case, you'd click on the "Explore" pulldown, and then on the "eBooks & Audiobooks" link, which opens the Columbus Library's Overdrive site.

[cc_in_oh]

Thanks guys - I think I'm starting to get the hang of it - got 3 libraries working, had to supply a branch ID for one of them. So in Manage Discovered Books, I added one to Calibre and it looks like it created a sort of dummy entry, which would be exactly what I want except it doesn't display which library it belongs to?

(I was hoping to generate an ordered list, say Michael Connelly, that as I finish each book would tell me what the next one is and where to go to borrow it)

[eschwartz]

Right-click on the book and look at the OverDrive context menu option.

It should list the available links. The Book Details pane only shows the available books, not the recommendable ones.


There is also an option in the OverDrive Link configuration to display multiple links in Book Details, only the first link, or none.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Right-click on the book and look at the OverDrive context menu option.

It should list the available links. The Book Details pane only shows the available books, not the recommendable ones.


There is also an option in the OverDrive Link configuration to display multiple links in Book Details, only the first link, or none.

Hmm - I'm not getting an Overdrive menu entry, but Show Book Details has an "ID's" section containing library names - duplicated several times for some reason. I need to play around with the config parameters...

Edit> Oh now I see what you mean - Overdrive in the menu bar opens options to Borrow from <Lib1>, Borrow From <Lib2> etc.

This is fantastic - it's working with 6 libraries, still waiting for credentials on a few more. I created an empty for Ross Macdonald and it brought in the whole Lew Archer series with links to at least 2 libraries for each book. Not in "correct" order though, so next I have to try out the Import plugin to see if I can clean that up.

I really appreciate the help to get this off the ground!

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Thanks guys - I think I'm starting to get the hang of it - got 3 libraries working, had to supply a branch ID for one of them. So in Manage Discovered Books, I added one to Calibre and it looks like it created a sort of dummy entry, which would be exactly what I want except it doesn't display which library it belongs to?

(I was hoping to generate an ordered list, say Michael Connelly, that as I finish each book would tell me what the next one is and where to go to borrow it)

Here is a rough workflow to accomplish this. (You seem to have already completed most of these steps).

1. Configure the plugin with the information of the lending libraries from which you have borrowing privileges.
   
2. Add at least one book record in your calibre library with the author whose series you are interested in reading. You can use "Add Empty book (book entry with no formats)" (Ctrl+Shift+E) from the "Add books" menu.
   
3. Select the book(s) in your calibre library by that author and choose "Search for books by selected authors" from the Overdrive plugin menu.
   
4. After the search completes use the "Manage discovered books" menu choice to see more books by your selected author that are available from your lending libraries.
   
5. Look in the series column to see which belong to the series you are interested in reading. Select the ones that interest you and click the "Add book" and "OK" buttons. This will add entries for those books in your main calibre library.
   
6. At any time in the future you can use the "Series" column in your calibre library to determine the series and sequence of each book. (Clicking on the Series column header will sort your calibre library by series.) Find the next one you want to read and select it. You will then find the links to borrow it in both the Overdrive plugin menu and in the book details panel to the right of the main calibre window.

(Sometimes lending libraries don't have complete series information for books. In that case you will need to enter this into the series column of the calibre library yourself or use calibre's "Edit metadata/Download metadata" function.)

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Here is a rough workflow to accomplish this. (You seem to have already completed most of these steps).

1. Configure the plugin with the information of the lending libraries from which you have borrowing privileges.
   
2. Add at least one book record in your calibre library with the author whose series you are interested in reading. You can use "Add Empty book (book entry with no formats)" (Ctrl+Shift+E) from the "Add books" menu.
   
3. Select the book(s) in your calibre library by that author and choose "Search for books by selected authors" from the Overdrive plugin menu.
   
4. After the search completes use the "Manage discovered books" menu choice to see more books by your selected author that are available from your lending libraries.
   
5. Look in the series column to see which belong to the series you are interested in reading. Select the ones that interest you and click the "Add book" and "OK" buttons. This will add entries for those books in your main calibre library.
   
6. At any time in the future you can use the "Series" column in your calibre library to determine the series and sequence of each book. (Clicking on the Series column header will sort your calibre library by series.) Find the next one you want to read and select it. You will then find the links to borrow it in both the Overdrive plugin menu and in the book details panel to the right of the main calibre window.

(Sometimes lending libraries don't have complete series information for books. In that case you will need to enter this into the series column of the calibre library yourself or use calibre's "Edit metadata/Download metadata" function.)

Thank you - very helpful. The Lew Archer series I generated was numbered, but not correctly - I assumed it was just whatever random order the books were discovered in. I figure if the Import plugin creates a list of properly-ordered empty books I can then select them for search by title. That would also have the advantage of making sure the list is complete even if some are not available in any of my libraries...