library books and expirations

[Asawi]

I actually think you have to make rather more than "a few" early returns in a short time for your account to get frozen. I just wanted to be on the safe side.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Asawi

I actually think you have to make rather more than "a few" early returns in a short time for your account to get frozen. I just wanted to be on the safe side.

You mean like madly cycling tens to hundreds of books bot-style?

I don't think anyone who checks books out to read them does that, even if they hit a few duds in a row...

[minspargal]

My library lets you set the check out time with 7, 14 or 21 days. I believe 4 check out is the limit and i usually just do 2 because i know i could not possibly read 4 in 21 days. If i finish early i return them so someone else can have a crack at them. I can't understand why a person feels entitled to keep an e-book longer just because it's an e-book or they pay taxes. As someone mentioned earlier we should be glad our local library offers the service. Where my daughter in law came from, they pay lots of taxes and their country does not have public libraries.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by Asawi

I actually think you have to make rather more than "a few" early returns in a short time for your account to get frozen. I just wanted to be on the safe side.

Why don't you just ask your library?

I've found the three libraries I belong to to be very responsive via e-mail - normally within a day (as long as their brick & mortar site is open) and often within an hour or two.

Unlike some publishers I could name...

[Asawi]

Originally Posted by sufue

Why don't you just ask your library?

I was just answering a question made by someone else. I don't worry at all about this for myself. What I wanted to be "safe" about was not tricking someone else.

Edit: I remembered reading about this some time ago, and now that I looked it up again I see that this person checked out and returned 2x12 books in 24 hours.
Bottom of this page: http://ebooktest.blogspot.com/2009/0...ay-august.html

[lorraineg57]

I return books early all the time. If it's a page turner, I usually finish them in a couple days. There are options for checkout times but I always choose the max (21 days) since I have no idea until I start if it's going to be a page turner. I've not had an issue.

I'm not complaining about the library system at all. I'm thrilled at the money free ebooks saves me. It's just frustrating when you've been waiting for books for awhile and then they all become available at once and you know you won't get through them all in time. I've had 5 books available in two days, one of them being around 500 pages.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Asawi

I was just answering a question made by someone else. I don't worry at all about this for myself. What I wanted to be "safe" about was not tricking someone else.

Edit: I remembered reading about this some time ago, and now that I looked it up again I see that this person checked out and returned 2x12 books in 24 hours.
Bottom of this page: http://ebooktest.blogspot.com/2009/0...ay-august.html

yeah, that's more of the pattern of someone who's downloading, liberating, and posting to the darknet...lather rinse repeat.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by FF2

I followed the thread for a few days and finally just had had it and decided to take the drm-bull by the horns. I know some slow readers (not the machine but the person) and they'd need more time to read and enjoy a book. These hoops are getting in the way of reading. While stripping should be a last resort, at least, it does not deprive other library borrowers of the book.

Saved me doing it. Of course, on my Kindle, I don't have a choice, so I always strip it. In fact, even books I buy from Amazon directly go to my PC and get side-loaded through Calibre after cleaning.

[HarleyB]

Originally Posted by HarleyB

I had 6 books on my waitlist. I was 1st on the list for a couple but 3rd or 4th for most of them. I had been waiting since last year for some of them as I remember being 10th when I originally waitlisted them - at up to 21 days per borrower that's a long time. Then I went away for 10 days.
Incredibly 5 of the books became available while I was away from my computer and therefore unable to download them.

Of course now that I am back home I am back on the waitlist for them all over again.

I can't believe it but this past weekend I was away for 4 days and the last book that has been on my waitlist for months became available as well as 4 of the 5 that I relisted after my holiday! Again for some of the books I was the only person on the list so a 2 week wait was to be expected. But for at least 2 of the books I was 2nd and 3rd - I really am finding it hard to accept that they magically become available as soon as I leave my home. It's almost like someone is watching me. The first 3 emails came while I was on my 2 hour flight!


However this time I was prepared! I had a copy of all my user name logins and passwords (I belong to 4 different libraries) and so I was able to log in and checkout the books without downloading them.
Upon returning home last night I downloaded all 5 books. I've almost finished the first one (it only has a borrowing period of 7 days - 3 of which were used up while I was away) and I'm confident I will finish the others over the next couple of weeks.
My only gripe is that I have just purchased 3 books I was really keen to read but they have to go to the bottom of my reading list as I am NOT waitlisting these books again.

[kiwipippa]

Originally Posted by HarleyB

I can't believe it but this past weekend I was away for 4 days and the last book that has been on my waitlist for months became available as well as 4 of the 5 that I relisted after my holiday! Again for some of the books I was the only person on the list so a 2 week wait was to be expected. But for at least 2 of the books I was 2nd and 3rd - I really am finding it hard to accept that they magically become available as soon as I leave my home. It's almost like someone is watching me. The first 3 emails came while I was on my 2 hour flight!


However this time I was prepared! I had a copy of all my user name logins and passwords (I belong to 4 different libraries) and so I was able to log in and checkout the books without downloading them.

Now there's an idea. This always seems to happen to me too. I was in a queue of 73 once at the Philadelphia Library and it came up when I was on holiday and checked my email. Very annoying. When I got back (late Oct 2010) I put my name back down, I finally came to the top of the list again only last week!

I didn't even think about checking it out and not downloading it, but will do this in the future, as long as I remember to take my Overdrive login details. Thanks for the heads up.

[tubemonkey]

For those of you with smartphones and tablets, consider downloading the appropriate OverDrive app to your device. The apps for Android and iOS (not sure about Blackberry or Windows Mobile) now allow you to download library books directly to your device. This will give you a chance to start reading the book while still on vacation.