Public librarians: what has been your Kindle/Overdrive experience?

There are some librarians posting in some of the other threads, but I thought it might make sense to have a central thread.

I'm seeing some questions come up from readers, and asking a librarian is often a good way to get answers...especially in this case. :)

1. Did your library have to make a decision to add the Kindle format, or did it happen automatically if you already had Overdrive?

2. Is there an additional fee to the library to offer Kindle editions? Do you have to buy additional licenses?

3. Did Overdrive notify you of the change?

Thanks for any information you care to share.

I have used overdrive for years for Audiobooks. I am love Overdrive and my Kindle experience with them has been very easy and smooth

1. No, Overdrive gave it to us automatically

2. No additional fees at this point, but since our usage statistics have been increasing significantly this year even before Kindle use and the wait lists are getting longer, we are expecting Overdrive to increase our annual fees to enable them to provide more titles and more copies.

3. No notification, but that may have been because we are part of a larger group of libraries sharing the same Overdrive service.

KDD, thanks for sharing that!

anthea, I'm glad you've enjoyed the experience..sounds like you are a patron, rather than being a librarian?

I'm a librarian at a rural 10 branch county library in Ohio, Clermont county. Just announced on our site today, and link to our overdrive powered site, the Ohio e-book Project, has it all up and running. For us it was automatically added. How could we not? And I agree with above, fees will go up. Don't know this for a fact, but it's only logical.

I've noticed a lot of Kindle users don't undersand the concept of limited copies. Remember everybody, the library is a locally run non-profit. Amazon is a multinational for profit corporation.

One thing with that, diane, and I'm interested in hearing from other librarians on this as well.

My understanding was that the typical public library e-book lending model was one license per user. In other words, if the library had five licenses, only five patrons could have the e-book at a time.

However, the way Amazon has implemented it, we get multiple simultaneous device licenses (SDLs). I checked an e-book out of my library, and I currently have it on more than one device on the same account.

This sounds like it might reduce costs for the libraries in that one particular context. Five family members on the same account could read the same book at the same time, and it would only decrement the available libraries licenses by one. I'm guessing the SDLs are the same as they are for the e-book for purchase in the Kindle store...the default on that is six.

I can see that as being a very good thing: Mom, Dad, Grandma and the kids could all read the same book and then discuss it. :)

Does that sound right?

While our librarians were caught by surprise by the addition of Kindle yesterday, they were fully up to speed and able to assist me by this afternoon. Library lending is a great move forward; I am going to like it.

Bufo, OverDrive and libraries do check out only one license to one account, ie one library card number. Depending upon the format and other variables, that check out can sometimes be downloaded to multiple devices for the duration of the check-out period. This is true for both ebooks and audiobooks.

I've noticed there are a few books through Overdrive that are available as Adobe Epub, but not Kindle. Anyone else noticed this?

AuroraGreenway, thank you!

I'd heard "one license, one user" rather than "one license, one account". That makes a lot of sense...thanks again!

Mean Mr. Mustard - Can you give a few titles as examples? I'm wondering if they are books not available for sale in the Kindle store, although they are available on Overdrive. Hard as it is to believe ;) I have found titles available in other ebook stores that aren't yet available for Kindle.

FYI, I'm a librarian, but my only experience so far has been checking our consortium's Overdrive site to see whether it's Kindle-ready yet!

One example is
Morgawr
The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Trilogy, Book 3

I checked and there is a Kindle version for sale on Amazon. Almost all of the books I have looked at are available for Kindle, I was just curious why there were a few I encountered that were not, but were available as Adobe books.

I have some librarian questions, too.

1 - Can you give me a rough idea of how much it costs to add a title to the library's available list? There is probably variation, but would you say most books run $10-20 or $100-200?

2 - Does the library pay Overdrive annual fee plus costs per checkout in addition to the cost per book "purchase?"

The reason I'm asking is that I'd like to offer to buy an occasional ebook (of my choice) for my library, and before I talk to the library about it, it would be smart to know how much a purchase might run, and if the library would run into additional costs besides the actual book purchase.

I have an ADE/Overdrive book that I'm reading now residing on 3.5 different devices - my Mac, my Nook, and my iPad (in two different apps).

Just think of Adobe and Amazon as being the 'agents' in this regard. Five to six devices per license is about standard. They will all expire at the same time.

But while I'm here, I urge everyone to return their digital library books as soon as they finish reading them. Don't wait for the expiration. That will keep more licenses available for other readers. Thank you. :-)

edt:clarity

I haven't seen instructions on how to return a book. I'm guessing that a book just disappears from a Kindle when the 2 weeks loan has expired.

Yes, but if you finish early, you can return it from the MYK page - it's one of the options of the button on the right-hand side of the page by each book. (I agree, Dorsie, and I expect to be returning most of my library books before the checkout expires. Just like I do my paper library books.)

MamaSylvia,
Thanks for the information!

Here is a link to a blog that has information on how to check out the Overdrive Kindle ebook (using WiFi on the Kindle3) and how to return the book early. I hope more libraries show their patrons how to return the book early.

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/09/22/how-to-check-out-kindle-library-ebooks-and-return-them-early/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDigitalReader+%28The+Digital+Reader%29

We are still waiting for our Pima County Library in Tucson to have the Overdrive Kindle eBook access. When I emailed them today, they didn't know when it would happen, but the last email said they now expect to have it by next week after talking to Overdrive.

With the long wait times I personally plan on being as good as I can in returning (seems an odd word in this context but I lack a better one) a book I've finished. For example, I'm currently waiting for a book with a loan time of 3 weeks, has only one copy and 7 people ahead of me. If each of those 7 people simply wait for the book to automatically return at the end of the 3 weeks it will take me slightly over 5 months before I get a chance to read the book. Not exactly ideal but it is what it is. With that in mind I plan on being as good as I can be about returning e-books as soon as I'm finished with them.

Kudos to you~ I have always tried to be as courteous as possible and return an ebook as soon as I finish it. If we could get everyone to do that, the wait time would be so much shorter. I still say it would be nice if your kindle would have a little note and button at the end saying something like "you have finished this library e-book would you like to return it now?" Then I bet almost everyone would do it...

This issue of returns is just the same with physical items though - except that they cannot 'return themselves' as the electronic versions would. I am sure most of us at some point have been "guilty" of finishing a book or DVD well before the due date but not actually returning it until the last min (or even later. . .!!)

1. I don't know the answer to this because we don't purchase titles for our Overdrive service as we do for our physical materials. Since our library is part of a consortium sharing an Overdrive service, I honestly don't know who makes the purchase decisions -- overdrive? A committee from various libraries in the group? These recent threads have spurred me to find out more how this works. If I learn anything interesting, I'll get back to this group about it.

2. We pay an annual fee for the service, period.

"But while I'm here, I urge everyone to return their digital library books as soon as they finish reading them. Don't wait for the expiration. That will keep more licenses available for other readers. Thank you. :-)"

I totally agree! Thanks for making this point!

Thanks for starting this thread, Bufo! I read the discussions every day and noticed when Seattle Public/King County went live (beta.) I checked our webpage and saw the Kindle Coming Soon notice. The next day, the Kindle icons appeared next to many of the books. After jumping up and down and doing some trial downloads (both USB and wifi) about an hour later I got a letter from Overdrive about the new features. This happened as far as I know "magically" - no extra fees or local software updates. Overdrive did it all.

I am in the fortunate position of being able to select ebooks for purchase from Overdrive's site. It's a 2-step process: you have to choose Harper Collins's books (the 26 downloads) from a separate list in a separate cart. Then you can choose from the other publishers in a different cart. There's a lot that isn't there :( including the publishers that don't allow library lending.

PS - I think being able to return books early is wonderful. Manage Your Kindle gives you this option and I encourage everyone to use it. Loan times are set by the library. We have a choice of 14 or 7 day loans; other systems may have 21 days. We didn't choose to use the 21-day period so it's not a choice when you check out.