OverDrive Hold Redelivery

[PeterT]

WHAT IS HOLD REDELIVERY?

Hold redelivery will allow users to suspend a hold even*after*it’s made available to them while maintaining their place on the wait list. By enabling users to pass books they don’t have time to read on to the next person in line, hold redelivery will help your library connect more readers to the right book, at the right time.

See https://company.overdrive.com/2019/1...ld-redelivery/

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[jhowell]

That will be useful for me. I always have books on hold at multiple libraries and sometimes they become available when I am too busy to read them. Being able to suspend a hold after the fact is a great solution.

[4691mls]

I didn't know that was possible - I thought I would have to suspend before I received notification that the book is available. Thanks for the info!

[Terisa de morgan]

I think it will be ver useful.

[4691mls]

One of my holds became available today and I didn't see this option. It was either borrow it or remove from holds. (fortunately I was ready to borrow it)

Edited to add that this was on the Overdrive mobile app. Maybe the option is on the desktop site?

[PeterT]

If you read the linked article, it's not available yet.

[haertig]

The article in the link above says this will be replacing (not supplementing) auto-checkout:

If the user takes no action, their hold will automatically be suspended one time for seven days. If no action is taken a second time, the hold will be canceled automatically.

With the removal of auto-checkout...

Personally, I will miss auto-checkout more than I will like hold-redelivery. All in all, this is a negative Overdrive change IMHO. This is not a drastic negative change - I can live with it - but it is a distasteful change. I did not see mentioned in the article if they will continue to support the current hold suspension (before book delivery), but I sure hope they will continue to. Losing before-delivery hold-suspension would indeed be a drastic negative change.

[wandalynn]

Originally Posted by haertig

The article in the link above says this will be replacing (not supplementing) auto-checkout:

Personally, I will miss auto-checkout more than I will like hold-redelivery. All in all, this is a negative Overdrive change IMHO. This is not a drastic negative change - I can live with it - but it is a distasteful change. I did not see mentioned in the article if they will continue to support the current hold suspension (before book delivery), but I sure hope they will continue to. Losing before-delivery hold-suspension would indeed be a drastic negative change.

I'm one who will miss auto-checkout too. Since I started using a Kobo to read library books it's it made checking out a book effortless. Fingers crossed they don't drop the hold before checkout feature.

[Sydney's Mom]

Through my Illinois library card I have access to ebooks at my local library (Overdrive) and the State of Illinois elibrary (Access 360). When we are traveling, I don't have access to my computer, so I lost two State of Illinois library books while we were traveling. Luckily, the two at my local library were automatically checked out, and I downloaded them when we arrived. I am not a fan of this change.

[JSWolf]

I don't like this new hold. It doesn't work properly and I can prove it using a book that the library only has one copy of.

You have a notification that a book is ready. You don't have time to read it so you go and put it on hold. When you take it off hold, you are supposed to be next in line. I am the next in line and I get my notification and I also put it on hold. I'm supposed to be next in line when I take it off hold. But what if I take it off hold before you do. Then you take it off hold. You think you are supposed to be next in line, but you aren't because I am. So you have to wait for the book to be finished by whoever has it now and then you have to wait for me to be finished. So this hold (in some cases) doesn't work because you won't be going to the front of the line like you are supposed to be. And then there could be 5 people who placed a hold and are now in front of you because they released their holds before you did. This setup is BS. You may not go to the front of the line and you could go weeks/months waiting and then have to go back on hold.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

Through my Illinois library card I have access to ebooks at my local library (Overdrive) and the State of Illinois elibrary (Access 360). When we are traveling, I don't have access to my computer, so I lost two State of Illinois library books while we were traveling. Luckily, the two at my local library were automatically checked out, and I downloaded them when we arrived. I am not a fan of this change.

What I do when we go on vacation is to either place my waiting eBooks on hold or not depending on if I'll have Internet access or not.

I don't use auto-checkout. I find that option to be BS because what it does is checkout books for the longest time possible even if the person doesn't read it. So that means books take longer to get to the next person. If a book because available and you get notified, you should have the rest of that day and 2 complete days to borrow and if not, it goes to the next person. None of this auto-checkout or auto-hold. You have to be in control and manage your Overdrive eBooks. I don't want to wait longer because you have no idea what you are doing. And then most people don't return early when they are finished. I do return when I am done in most cases. It's when I am on vacation that I don't always return early. The problem I have is figuring out which library I borrow from which is why returning when on vacation is not always going to happen.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by wandalynn

I'm one who will miss auto-checkout too. Since I started using a Kobo to read library books it's it made checking out a book effortless. Fingers crossed they don't drop the hold before checkout feature.

I will miss it too

[issybird]

My initial thought was that this was going to be good for me. I can generally roll with more than one book showing up at once, but audiobooks are a challenge. Right now, I'm racing to get through one so I can finish another before it expires.

But on considering it more, I can make a guess what's behind the change. I have to assume that OverDrive has a pretty good sense of how many books are never opened. The data from the OD and Libby apps and Kobo devices has to be readily accessible. Even if they can't see what's going on with sideloaded or Kindle reads, they've got more than enough data for analysis, especially since as everyone keeps making the point, more and more ebooks are read on phones and tablets.

And, I bet it's a lot of books that get returned unread and OverDrive knows this. So not only are readers held up as loans languish until they expire of their own accord it also eats up a loan for books where the license is only good for 26 loans and the same effect is felt when losing two unread weeks on a book that expires in a year. It seems to me, quite simply and logically, that OverDrive is trying to cut way down on the unread problem that chews up licenses as well as time. Good for them. Frankly, this is a case of score one for the reader.

Speaking personally, I know to my shame that I haven't always remembered to cancel all my holds on a book once one of them lands. While I return a duplicate right away as soon as it shows up in an account, I know I may have caused a charge to the number of permissible loans. Now I keep good records and don't slip up, but there must be many out there, probably most, who have no idea of the issues..

This really is good news for library borrowers. No more unintentional borrows when someone's changed their mind or knows he can't get to a book in a timely fashion. It means more actual readers for books with those exploding licenses.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

My initial thought was that this was going to be good for me. I can generally roll with more than one book showing up at once, but audiobooks are a challenge. Right now, I'm racing to get through one so I can finish another before it expires.

But on considering it more, I can make a guess what's behind the change. I have to assume that OverDrive has a pretty good sense of how many books are never opened. The data from the OD and Libby apps and Kobo devices has to be readily accessible. Even if they can't see what's going on with sideloaded or Kindle reads, they've got more than enough data for analysis, especially since as everyone keeps making the point, more and more ebooks are read on phones and tablets.

And, I bet it's a lot of books that get returned unread and OverDrive knows this. So not only are readers held up as loans languish until they expire of their own accord it also eats up a loan for books where the license is only good for 26 loans and the same effect is felt when losing two unread weeks on a book that expires in a year. It seems to me, quite simply and logically, that OverDrive is trying to cut way down on the unread problem that chews up licenses as well as time. Good for them. Frankly, this is a case of score one for the reader.

Speaking personally, I know to my shame that I haven't always remembered to cancel all my holds on a book once one of them lands. While I return a duplicate right away as soon as it shows up in an account, I know I may have caused a charge to the number of permissible loans. Now I keep good records and don't slip up, but there must be many out there, probably most, who have no idea of the issues..

This really is good news for library borrowers. No more unintentional borrows when someone's changed their mind or knows he can't get to a book in a timely fashion. It means more actual readers for books with those exploding licenses.

I've never liked auto-borrow. All it does is cause the wait list to get longer. If someone cannot be bothered to download the eBook in the time alotted then it should go to the next in line.

I do try to cancel multiple holds on the same eBook, but I don't always do so. But when I get the notification that a duplicate is available, I will cancel it and let the next person have at it.

One thing I really dislike is when a library only has a limited number of holds. With the lines so long, we do need more holds. 10 loans at a time is plenty. Lets say you have one eBook, one audiobook, a couple of magazine, and a video, that's 5 right there. And if you share your account, then you have enough slots for someone else. I know I share with my wife and my mother-in-law. So more holds would be good.

I'm the technical one when it comes to eBooks. So I do the work. I don't mind. I used to do all the work for my mother when she was alive.

Oh and as for the 26 loans, that's gone now for newer eBook purchases. Yes you will get limited loans. But one copy won't have expire all the others will.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by haertig

The article in the link above says this will be replacing (not supplementing) auto-checkout:

Personally, I will miss auto-checkout more than I will like hold-redelivery. ...

Auto checkout is a nice feature. I wonder if I'll still get an email from my library (or is it Overdrive?) when my book becomes available for borrowing? Currently I get an email that informs me the book has been automatically borrowed. If I still get the email that the book is available (and have three days to borrow it) with this new scheme, that's not that big of a change (since I have to the Overdrive to download it anyhow). The only thing that worries me in the article is that it mentions the notification will come through Libby (which I don't have). I hope there's still an email notification as well.