New OverDrive Catalog Coming in January

Just updating you about our library’s eMedia Catalog update to the Next Generation digital library platform. Overdrive had contacted me last week that it would be done within the next two weeks. However, due to feedback from other libraries which have been updated, they have elected to postpone our upgrade until early January.

In the meantime, here is what you and your patrons can expect in January:

Browser Support: The Next Generation platform works well in all standard and mobile browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer. To optimize the experience for Internet Explorer 7 specifically, users may be automatically prompted to install the Chrome plug-in. (Note: You may need to clear your cache to view recent code updates that remove the prompt for all other versions of Internet Explorer.)

OverDrive Read: Tens of thousands of EPUB eBooks are currently available for users to sample and borrow for reading in their web browser via OverDrive Read. They are adding and testing thousands of additional titles weekly and working to verify publisher permissions. Ultimately, they expect to have 95 percent of all EPUB titles available via OverDrive Read. While the vast majority of EPUB eBooks are available for OverDrive Read, they’re working to fill the gaps in the coming weeks and months.

Removal of “Cart” feature: To achieve One-Step Checkout, they removed the Add to Cart and Confirm Checkout steps. This significantly reduces the number of steps required to browse and borrow digital titles (even when checking out multiple titles!). If a user unintentionally borrows a title, there’s an option on the Bookshelf page to return the borrowed title to the library’s collection. If a user unintentionally downloads a title, in most cases, they have the option to return the title from the respective software.

Search: They’ve implemented the filtered search feature across participating sites. Over the last two weeks, they’ve made significant improvements to search performance and results, and there are encouraged with the improved stability. Of note is the new format display which quickly allows users to narrow results by EPUB, OverDrive Read, or Kindle.

Recommendation functionality: they are presently testing improvements to the recommendation algorithms to produce more relevant title suggestions from our digital collection. They’ll continue to improve this feature as they add new book intelligence and community data.

Accessibility: The majority of our Next Generation catalog is accessible for visually impaired users. They continue to test the website for accessibility and are looking at ways to further improve and address accessibility issues.

Look for the new catalog in early January.