E-Book Borrowing At C.H. Booth Library Is Catching On

By Nancy K. Crevier

As of February 28, patrons of C.H. Booth Library with a current library card have been able to borrow e-books. The new library subscription service, OverDrive, gives access to approximately 2,000 popular fiction and nonfiction titles, and more than 1,000 audio e-books, with 30 to 40 new titles added each month. Since February 1, the service has also added 230 young adult and children’s book titles, as well as a few audio e-books for that age group. That, and the fact that since December 2011 OverDrive has been able to link with the bestselling Kindle and Kindle Fire e-readers, assisted the library in its decision to make e-book borrowing available to its patrons.

In preparation for the addition of e-book borrowing to its services, C.H. Booth librarians had prepared a number of printouts for various e-reader devices on accessing the service, and had advertised their availability to assist anyone experiencing difficulties linking to the service. Library patrons who wish to borrow an e-book can do so from their home, using a valid library card number to log in. A compatible desktop or laptop computer or mobile device is required. Currently, there is no dedicated computer station at the library from which to connect a personal e-reader.

“We have not been seeing, physically, the number of people we expected to,” said reference librarian Andrea Zimmermann, March 15, just two weeks after the OverDrive system was activated. “I think that people are doing it themselves from home, and being successful,” she said.

Librarians have noticed that people are picking up the printouts, and have helped a few people troubleshoot problems in linking their e-reader devices to the new service.

“There have been a few quirky things that have come up,” Ms Zimmermann said. “The Kindle e-reader and the Kindle Fire, in a Penguin title, require a USB cord connected to the computer. The book is downloaded then to the computer, and from there, the reader can put it on the Kindle. It’s a publisher restriction. We have heard a couple of complaints that the Kindle Fire doesn’t even come with a USB cord, so people will need to get that, if there are Penguin titles they want to borrow,” she said.

One concern that librarians had in subscribing to OverDrive is that the system only allows single user access, within the entire consortium of more than 40 Connecticut libraries, to each e-book. While there may be four or five copies of a popular title, each e-book can only be checked out by one user at a time. Other users go on a waiting list.

“People have said that they have placed books on hold, but apparently there is a limit to the number of ‘hold’ books you can have,” said Ms Zimmermann, “and then the other books go on a ‘wish list.’” Ms Zimmermann said that to date she had not had complaints, however, about waiting for titles. Nor has she had complaints about the titles offered.

“One person that I was helping did comment that there were a lot of series offered,” she said.

A few patrons, particularly those not as familiar with technology, are finding the process of linking to OverDrive time-consuming and cumbersome, she has heard.

Reference librarian Beryl Harrison said that e-book borrowers who finish a book within the two-week borrowing period have found it complicated to return the e-book.

“It takes quite a bit of navigating around the site to figure out how to do that, and several steps,” she said. “You would think this would have been a more obvious and simpler method,” Ms Harrison said. “I think it will take some practice for users to get used to it.”

Overall, patrons seem very excited about the e-book borrowing service, “And we are excited, too, to offer this service,” Ms Zimmermann said. “The support from OverDrive has been terrific for us and for individuals,” she said.

The OverDrive system is the best that C.H. Booth can offer at this time, so far as borrowing e-books goes, Ms Zimmermann said, but the library staff anticipates that e-book borrowing will evolve as time goes by.

It is thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library that Newtown library patrons can borrow e-books, free of charge, added Ms Zimmermann.

“This service would be beyond our normal budget, if not for the support of the Friends,” she said. When the library “buys” an e-book through the subscription with OverDrive, it is actually a lease situation. The e-books do not “belong” to the library, and therefore, the library cannot build an e-book collection of its own, without extraordinary expenditure. In order to maintain the service, the library will continue to depend on outside sources to cover the subscription cost each year.

“We hope that people will tell us how things are going [as they attempt to use the e-book borrowing system]. We’d love to help,” said Ms Zimmerman, “and we want people to have a good experience.”