Libraries (Overdrive) are slowing down

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by RDaneel54

Columbus, OH

The Help: 100 copies, 453 on wait list, 14-day loan
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: 30 copies, 575 wait list, 14-day loan

Philadelphia Free library

The Help: 32 copies, 280 on wait list, 21-day loan
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: 22 copies, 178 wait list, 21-day loan

Think my library has you beat ... not in a good way, sigh.

Oregon Digital Library Consortium (21/14/7 day loans available)

The Help: 35 copies, 693 on the wait list
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: 20 copies, 446 on the wait list

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't think it will be rescinded. I think if they do stop it, it just won't be able to be renewed after it expires. Otherwise they will have to refund some of the money you've paid them.

Good point!

[JSWolf]

The problem is that a 21-day borrow is too long. Most people borrow for the full time and if it's 21-days then they keep it out for 21-days. Most people do not even know that you can return early. 14-days should be the max borrow length given how long the wait lists are getting.

So if you belong to a library that allows 21-days, please tell the librarian you want that backed down to 14-day.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that a 21-day borrow is too long. Most people borrow for the full time and if it's 21-days then they keep it out for 21-days. Most people do not even know that you can return early. 14-days should be the max borrow length given how long the wait lists are getting.

So if you belong to a library that allows 21-days, please tell the librarian you want that backed down to 14-day.

I'll respectfully disagree. I myself read quickly, and have a reasonable amount of free time to do so, so most of my borrows are 7 day and that is the default borrow time I have set up for my library account. However, not everyone reads that quickly. Further, some books can be quite lengthy and take longer even for a quick reader to get through. Books on history or technical books, for instance.

If I check out a cookbook to try out, I'll usually want the full three weeks to give it a whirl before I decide whether or not I want to buy. On the other hand, for a light 250 page mystery, I never check it out for longer than 7 days. If I'm going for an 800 page history, then I will usually check out for two weeks and return early if I finish before then.

What would be better than decreasing options is to leave the max borrow time in place and available, but change the DEFAULT borrow to 14 days. The trouble is that most people never change the default borrow time for their account and most libraries set the default time to the absolute maximum.

At the same time, libraries should make the fact that books can be returned early MUCH MORE PROMINENT. This info should appear each time on the checkout page, perhaps with a mention to be polite and not keep others waiting longer than necessary once you have finished a read. As is, most libraries have this factoid buried somewhere on a FAQ page that most folks never look at.

I've definitely noticed slower load times for my library's site, hope it will ease up eventually, but with the economy as it is and ebook prices high, I'm not really expecting it.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by graycyn

At the same time, libraries should make the fact that books can be returned early MUCH MORE PROMINENT. This info should appear each time on the checkout page, perhaps with a mention to be polite and not keep others waiting longer than necessary once you have finished a read. As is, most libraries have this factoid buried somewhere on a FAQ page that most folks never look at.

And it should be possible to return the book straight from your account page / book shelf. My library requires me to return the book from the software I used to download it (I only borrow ePubs), so if I'm not in reach of my home computer, I have to wait. Or I have to download the book to the Overdrive app on my phone, and pick "delete and return" there, which is a dumb way of doing it. There needs to be a "return" button next to the "download" button on all Library OverDrive pages.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

Thanks. I was kind of lazy about the ebooks my library was buying. They buy all the bestseller fiction books, political tends to be more conservative, but where I really have a problem is the romance novels they buy. Only gay romanaces. This month, there are SIX books on the transgender lifestyle. I have nothing against that, but if I can't rely on the Chicago Public Library, I am going to ask them to justify the demographics of what they are buying. Chicago only buys a handful of books in Spanish, and I suspect Spanish-speaking people make up a larger portion of Chicago than gay/transgender makes up of the suburbs.

I hesitate to post this, because I really don't have anything against gay or transgender persons. As a matter of fact, I do charity work for the Howard Brown Clinic in Chicago (focusing on gay individuals). But if Chicago won't feed my jones (and they have every right to focus on tax-paying Chicagoans), I have to make sure my library reflects my community.

I have no issue with your asking, but perhaps those LGBT titles were specifically requested by patrons?

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that a 21-day borrow is too long. Most people borrow for the full time and if it's 21-days then they keep it out for 21-days. Most people do not even know that you can return early. 14-days should be the max borrow length given how long the wait lists are getting.

So if you belong to a library that allows 21-days, please tell the librarian you want that backed down to 14-day.

I know you loathe horribly deadly dull books, but some non-fictions are quite long (over 500 pages), and need more time!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that a 21-day borrow is too long. Most people borrow for the full time and if it's 21-days then they keep it out for 21-days. Most people do not even know that you can return early. 14-days should be the max borrow length given how long the wait lists are getting.

So if you belong to a library that allows 21-days, please tell the librarian you want that backed down to 14-day.

My libraries allow me to choose how long I want the book (7-14-21 days). What's wrong with choice?

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

I have nothing against that, but if I can't rely on the Chicago Public Library, I am going to ask them to justify the demographics of what they are buying. Chicago only buys a handful of books in Spanish, and I suspect Spanish-speaking people make up a larger portion of Chicago than gay/transgender makes up of the suburbs.

I sympathize with your desire to see more books in-stock which reflect your reading tastes. My own e-library tends to get in mostly romances and self-help, neither of which I am particularly interested in (or really, interested in at all). They've gotten better about acquiring interesting-looking pop-science/history books and literary fiction, but there's a severe dearth of sf/fantasy and the listings are still dominated by R & S-H due to the huge amount of prior acquisitions in those categories.

However, it's entirely possible that those gay romances aren't really intended for the gay/transgender segment of the local population.

One of the biggest markets for m/m romances is actually straight women (viz. the immense popularity of "slash" fiction among fandom, the writing and reading of which is dominated by women). The semi-"major" romance imprints like Ellora, Samhain, and Carina which offer m/m romances among their listings have over half of them written by openly female authors, and even specialty m/m-only romance imprints like Dreamspinner and ManLoveRomance were started by women, as well, and again number women as at least half their authorship.

I've heard anecdotally that there's a fair-sized subdemographic of gay men who don't care for the type of m/m romances which are marketed primarily to women, on the grounds that they're all-too-often unrealistically objectifying projection fantasies* which ignore the reality of actual gay life experience in order to just fetishize pretty boys kissing.

* I do not disagree with that assessment in some cases, because with a number of the ones I've curiosity-sampled, I've ended up wondering if the author has ever met and/or observed actual gay people in actual non-dysfunctional romantic relationships or if they're just making up whatever they think goes on in such in their own minds out of the whole cloth, before they set it down on paper.

Mind you, this is something I've also wondered about some of the heterosexual romances I've curiosity-sampled, so I suppose bad romance writing is bad romance writing regardless of sexually-oriented subgenre.

[CRussel]

Three books I had on hold at the Singapore Library just came up for download. Gawd that was painful! The wait times for each page to load are not getting any better. (And I really, really wish that Singapore allowed me to choose a shorter time for each loan.)

On another note: The BC Library, which allows me to set a default loan period, AND change it at checkout, has 36 copies of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and 159 on the wait list.

[elemenoP]

My library allows a 14-day maximum loan time, and very often I can't finish a book in 14 days. (plus I found my holds were always coming in at the same time!) I must admit, I just learned how to get around the maximum loan time. I delete my library books when I'm done with them.

And the GWTDT index, I love it!

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: 18 copies, 115 on wait list (plus a GWTDT trilogy bundle: 9 copies and 44 on the wait list--try reading THAT in 14 days!)
The Help: 23 copies, 123 on the wait list

This is Brooklyn Public Library

I just checked out a book this morning (that I put on hold in mid-December) and I didn't experience any lags.

eP

[copyrite]

I figured I'd play...

GWTDT index: 85 copies with 279 patron(s) on waiting list

The bundle: 47 copies with 194 patron(s) on waiting list (I'm a fast reader and there's no way I could read that in two weeks with working, family, etc LOL)

MD's Overdrive is quite speedy this morning.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

My libraries allow me to choose how long I want the book (7-14-21 days). What's wrong with choice?

The problem is that the default is set to the maximum time and in some cases, that is 21-days.

I like the idea of accounts set to 14-days and then the option of 21-days but without being able to set the default at 21-days. So in order to get 21-days, you'd have to manually select it. But I would prefer to do away with 21-days and go with 14-days.

The problem is that accounts default to the maximum borrow time and if that's 21-days, then most people won't change that. They'll just go with it and even if they finish in 14-days or less it (most cases) it won't be returned until it expires. So there's a lot of wasted time.

[tubemonkey]

Just read books no one else is reading

[spindlegirl]

Halifax Public Libraries Digital Media for GIrl with the Dragon Tattoo in DRM epub.

Available copies: 0 (29 patron(s) on waiting list)
Library copies: 13