Overdrive "always available" audiobooks?

[Catlady]

Doing my usual weekly check for newly added audiobooks at my libraries, I saw today that the NYPL had added several hundred Overdrive titles; every one that I looked at included the designation "always available." Most of the audiobooks seemed to be at least a few years old.

I've never seen this designation before--anyone know what the story is behind it? I didn't notice anything similar with the newly added e-books.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Doing my usual weekly check for newly added audiobooks at my libraries, I saw today that the NYPL had added several hundred Overdrive titles; every one that I looked at included the designation "always available." Most of the audiobooks seemed to be at least a few years old.

I've never seen this designation before--anyone know what the story is behind it? I didn't notice anything similar with the newly added e-books.

I've seen it for years at my libraries. When I glanced at the available titles, I saw public domain and didn't look any further to see if there were actually any titles that weren't public domain.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I've seen it for years at my libraries. When I glanced at the available titles, I saw public domain and didn't look any further to see if there were actually any titles that weren't public domain.

Oh, no, I didn't mean public domain titles--I'm talking about relatively recent books. Some of the ones I added to my wish list, e.g., are from 2008, 2010, 2015, even one from 2019. These are current books, just not brand-new.

I had recommended one of them--Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard, 2019--a few months back and it was automatically borrowed for me; that's how I noticed the "always available" label. It's a book I had on a wish list at another library, in fact, and at that library it doesn't have the "always available" label. (Both Overdrive, of course.)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Oh, no, I didn't mean public domain titles--I'm talking about relatively recent books. Some of the ones I added to my wish list, e.g., are from 2008, 2010, 2015, even one from 2019. These are current books, just not brand-new.

I had recommended one of them--Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard, 2019--a few months back and it was automatically borrowed for me; that's how I noticed the "always available" label. It's a book I had on a wish list at another library, in fact, and at that library it doesn't have the "always available" label. (Both Overdrive, of course.)

Then I have no idea. I haven't looked at that category in years.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Then I have no idea. I haven't looked at that category in years.

Sorry for the confusion.

No problem, I wasn't clear enough.

It's not at my library as a category. To be more specific: At NYPL--Collections--New Audiobook Additions--Date Added--Last 7 Days, I got the usual list of new books. When I looked at the random titles of interest to me, I suddenly kept seeing "always available" on the various book pages, in lieu of the usual notice of number of copies available.

I did poke around to see if I could find anything about it, but I didn't see any info.

P.S. Hmm. All but two of the random selection of "always available" books I looked at just now were Tantor titles. The exceptions were from Blackstone.

[stumped]

it suggests the library somehow has obtained a licence to lend an unlimited number of copies.

maybe you could ask the library- it would be interested to hear their explanation

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by stumped

it suggests the library somehow has obtained a licence to lend an unlimited number of copies.

maybe you could ask the library- it would be interested to hear their explanation

I guess there must have been a fire sale on those licenses, because they added more than 400 titles in one fell swoop!

[stumped]

I checked my (UK) overdrive for that "rewind" title. They only have it as epub, not as audiobook , and no mention of unlimited copies.
Title and author match, but not publishers, where I see Atlantic books. , Not what was mentioned a few posts back. May vary by country ?

So I asked Google about "overdrive always available". Got a link to an old 2011 article :
You are here: Home / Digital Publishing News / Overdrive launches “Always Available” eBook Titles for Libraries and Schools
Overdrive launches “Always Available” eBook Titles for Libraries and Schools
June 25, 2011 By Michael Kozlowski 0 Comments

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by stumped

I checked my (UK) overdrive for that "rewind" title. They only have it as epub, not as audiobook , and no mention of unlimited copies... May vary by country ?

I just checked the four library systems i'm currently a member of in California. Only two had the book. It was not available in audio. It was not unlimited. So country doesn't make any difference. It must just be the individual library.

[Bookworm_Girl]

My library has an Always Available Audiobook collection too. It shows up on the home page list near the bottom. Mine are also from Tantor Media and Blackstone.