I am a word nerd. Always have been… probably always will be. My sisters taught me to read before I started kindergarten, and I was reading Shakespeare in the sixth grade. It was rare to see me without a book on my person somewhere. If not in my hands, then in my back pocket. When I discovered audiobooks (which were then called “books on tape”), it was a boon to me! Suddenly I could read safely while I was walking, driving or doing housework.
Now you can get audiobooks or E-books from your local library by direct download from Overdrive!
Side note… Overdrive is the software that you use to download the media. The way that you acquire it is to go to your library’s website, find their downloadable media area (mine is called “Library 2 Go”) and then find a link that says something like “Download the software required to get this book” and download it.
Once you get into the downloadable media and select your book, you will have the following formats to choose from: Kindle, Overdrive READ, Epub, and PDF (e-books) as well as .MP3 and WMA for audiobooks. Once you’ve selected your book and format, you simply add the book to your cart and check out using your library card number and PIN number. One rather irritating thing to keep in mind is that if you have an Android phone, you cannot play the WMA versions of the books, which is most of the books available.
Your library has only licensed so many copies of anybook to lend at a time, so the book that you want may not be available. The website will tell you how many copies the library has, how many are available and how many holds there are ahead of you. If you can’t check it out immediately, you can simply place a hold on the book, just like you would a paper book, and the library will notify you when it will be available for you to download. Whether you check it out immediately or get it through a hold you will have three days from the time that it becomes available to download it.
The next step is to download your book. You click on DOWNLOAD and that will open the Overdrive software, which looks like this:
Side note: some libraries offer different “lending” periods for their books. If they do, choose the period that would be right for you.
Once you download your book, it will remain in your Overdrive media console for the lending period, available to listen to or read on your computer or download to a device. In the case of my library it is 14 days. The book can’t be renewed, so if you don’t read or listen to it within that period, you will have to redownload the book.
Once it’s there, in the case of an audiobook, you can choose PLAY or TRANSFER from the upper left corner of the media console.
If you click PLAY it will open it’s embedded player within Overdrive and play the book. If you want to transfer the book, connect your device and then click “transfer”. Overdrive will then take a moment to detect your device and then walk you through the transfer process.
You can also download Overdrive apps for your phone that will allow you to download e-books and audiobooks directly to your device over the network or wi-fi.
Enjoy your reading!
Randal Schaffer
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