Tag Archives: ebooks

overdrive portal
May 13 2013

New OverDrive Help for Library Staff

overdrive portalOverDrive has completely revamped the User Assistance (formerly Patron Assistance) training course with a new, simple ‘scenario, explanation and solution’ approach. There is something for everyone, whether your role happens to be in Information Services, Training & Outreach or Support & IT.

The course is divided into different user assistance scenarios: universal, those that occur on a desktop/laptop, those that occur with mobile devices and additional support tips. Each issue is clearly explained with screenshots (when applicable) and the steps necessary to get it resolved. Many of the resolutions contain links to articles on OverDrive Help, and you’ll be able to click on them if you view them and/or save a copy from the Learning Center.

You can watch a recorded version of User Assistance at any time On Demand, or download the the slides PatronAssistance.

As a preview, here’s a screenshot of what you can expect to learn:

 

Apr 22 2013

OverDrive Digital Library Champions Contest: Coming Soon!

ebooksMelissa Marin Apr 16, 2013 1:17 PM – Show original item

Attention OverDrive Partners! Do you excel with eBooks? Are you an audiobook ambassador? An eBook educator? Marketing maven? Promotional powerhouse? If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions or are at least curious as to what I’m talking about… keep reading!
It is almost time for the OverDrive Digital Library Champions contest. In the past, we’ve run the Outreach Program Contest and found amazing marketing ideas from our library partners including Sacramento’s “Now in eBook format” stickers; Marion County’s Pinterest and Facebook campaigns promoting eBook of the Day staff picks; and The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s comprehensive outdoor promotion featuring truck wraps and billboards with QR codes that link to their digital collection.
This year, we have a new name and we’ve made a few changes to incorporate more chances to win and the opportunity for our winners to be honored at Digipalooza, our international user group conference held August 1st-4th in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio. The new name reflects what we hope to accomplish with this contest: We want to find the libraries and schools that are acting as a champion for the growth of eBooks, audiobooks and more in their library and community by successfully marketing their digital library.
We want to see the most creative and effective promotional campaigns for your digital collections from the past year. Awards will be given out for the following categories:

• Inside the Library – How are you making your physical branch aware of your ‘Virtual Branch’? Examples could include unique shelving and displays; patron training classes; gadget galleries; staff training; in-library events.
• Online – What are you doing through social networking, email or on your library website to drive traffic to your digital collection?
• Outside the Library – In what ways are you reaching out to your community to spread the word about your digital collection? Examples could include: billboards; sponsoring a local event; partnering with an area business; commuter outreach; ads in the paper or on TV.
• Test Drive – Are you enrolled in Test Drive and actively lending Test Drive approved devices to your patrons? Tell us how it’s going.
• Excellent eBook Educator (Open to K-12 schools and colleges only) – This new category is set aside for any school or college who would like to share their most innovative marketing ideas. This is inclusive of any and all promotional efforts that impact your OverDrive collection (including online marketing and in school campaigns).
In addition to these categories, a grand prize winner will be chosen to receive this year’s OverDrive Allstar Award. This award will be given to the library that excels in at least 3 out of the 4 categories: Inside, Outside, Online, Test Drive.
Start brainstorming now! More contest information, including details about the prizes and how to enter, will be posted here on the Digital Library Blog on Wednesday May 1st.
Questions? Reach out to us at outreachcontest@overdrive.com or leave a comment below.
Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.

Let me know if you would like to participate in this event and I’ll help you submit your campaigns. – Lauren

Feb 11 2013

Did You Know?

ilovetoread_posterDid you know that February is “I Love to READ” month? That’s right, an entire month dedicated to cultivating a passion for reading. Schools and libraries around the world are using this month to promote their digital collections, reminding users about the convenience of checking out eBooks anytime, anywhere.

OverDrive has provided some bookmarks, a flyer and a poster for you to use if you so choose. They are located in the Media Drop in the OverDrive folder.

To access the Media Drop on Voyager, right click the link and save the short cut to your desktop. Then click the short cut and find the OverDrive folder and within the I Love to Read folder.

patron-profiles-300x212
Nov 9 2012

Patron Profiles

Patron Profiles is the first, nationally trended survey of library users that tracks their experiences using library content and services, and puts this data in the context of broader consumer behavior. Awesome!

It tracks both a core set of questions and develops data on specific topics. All topics are about the use of digital content and services, including e-Books. Approximately 2000 individual respondents who are library users are tracked over time to identify trends.

How will this help Librarians?

  • Patron Profiles will help tell the library story, particularly around the e-Book revolution. It’s no secret that many libraries are struggling to respond to the avalanche of demand around e-Book content.
  • Libraries are required more and more to use sophisticated data with their boards and local politicians to state their case.  Because Patron Profiles tracks patterns over time – while providing libraries the ability to drill down to their own regional or population density levels – libraries can provide demonstrable evidence of our impact.
  • Libraries doing strategic planning cannot do so without using social media or surveys. It is a best practice. This publication can be instrumental in meeting that need.
  • Patron Profiles is another weapon in your toolkit to make you an effective spokesperson for your library. It gives you hard national data to compare your library with national trends. It takes you beyond just the anecdotal or output numbers.

I have uploaded all the Patron Profiles we have received to date to Voyager under Public Services for all staff to view. There are currently 5 profiles with the latest one just published.  I think you will find these very interesting reading.

Mar 19 2012

It’s Coming!

Many of you are familiar with our eBook, audiobook, music, and video download website from OverDrive (HTTP://ebooks.lvccld.org).  Now we have a chance to take this popular service to our patrons with the Digital Bookmobile, a high-tech tractor-trailer that creates an immersive download experience built around our ‘Virtual Branch’ download website.

To preview this exciting vehicle and share in experiences from other Digital Bookmobile events, http://www.DigitalBookmobile.com.

Our library will host the nationally touring Digital Bookmobile on March 30 & March 31 9:30am to 4pm at Windmill Library. Readers of all ages are invited to learn about digital downloading and experience LVCCLD’s eBook, audiobook, music, and video download service at this free community event. Please come out to our Digital Bookmobile event and chat with patrons, new and old. We are still looking for staff members to help out with this event!  In addition, during this two day event, there will be story times at the Digital Bookmobile, a book sale and lots of fun! For patrons who tour the Digital Bookmobile, they will receive an entry into the drawing on Saturday at 4pm for a Sony WiFi eReader.

A visit from the Digital Bookmobile will generate a lot of buzz around the downloadable website, so it is important that you get to know the basics of the service. Please plan to join us at the Digital Bookmobile event by helping out (send Lauren Stokes an email with day and time you would like to help) or just come out and visit.

I hope you can make it to this exciting event promoting our library.

Feb 9 2012

Announcing OverDrive Help

OverDrive is excited to announce the launch of OverDrive Help on February 14.  OverDrive Help contains hundreds of newly-written help articles covering everything users need to know to enjoy eBooks, audiobooks, music and video from your digital collection.

Articles contain screenshots, software download links and links to related articles. Each article can be printed, emailed or shared via Facebook, Twitter and other sites using the ‘Share this page’ button available at the top of most pages.

How to access OverDrive Help

OverDrive Help will replace the FAQs that are currently linked at your library’s OverDrive-powered website. The ‘Help’ page will include links to OverDrive Help, Device Resource Center, Digital Books Tour, Library Lending Policies and Support.

If your library has links to FAQs on your website, please take steps to update these links to direct to OverDrive Help.

What’s included in OverDrive Help

Each section of OverDrive Help is designed to help users find information in whichever method is preferred.

  • Search – Type in a search term to find matching articles. OverDrive Help uses full text searching to provide an extensive list of search results.
  • Get Started With… – Articles to help users find everything they need to get started with their device (Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, Sony Reader, etc.).
  • Most Popular Articles – This section shows the articles that are being read the most. Three are displayed on the homepage; click ‘view more…’ to see more articles.
  • Recent Searches – This tag cloud shows what other users are searching for. Click one of the recent searches to show search results for that term.
  • Recently Added Articles – When new articles are added to OverDrive Help, they’ll show up here. This is handy when new software updates or new features are released.

Support Assistance

Beginning February 14, if users visit OverDrive Help via your library’s OverDrive-powered website, there will be a ‘Support’ button in the left navigation bar. Users will click this link to return to your site and find the Support button to contact your library directly.

Early feedback on OverDrive Help

Before releasing OverDrive Help, we asked the experts (OverDrive Library Advisory Council) for feedback and here’s what they had to say:

  • 93% of library staff surveyed agree that OverDrive Help is an improvement over the existing FAQs.
  • 93% of library staff surveyed agree that the OverDrive Help website is clear, well-organized and attractive. These same users think that the articles are clearly written and easy to understand.

“I love the new look and feel of OverDrive Help over the current help pages. I think the screenshots will be very helpful in illustrating what could take a thousand words.”
- Ruth Ann Copley, Director of Davidson County Library System

An Expanding Knowledge Base

OverDrive is continuing to build the database of articles and functionality of OverDrive Help. When new features are added, news will be shared at OverDrive Help, so be sure to check back for updates. We welcome your feedback: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NewHelpFeedback.

 

Jan 11 2012

The eBook Evolution

The Press Democrat recently published an interesting article entitled “The e-book evolution” that speaks of the diverse ecosystem emerging for digital reading in 2012 as electronic devices become more mainstream and become more widely used by curious, tech-savvy consumers.

Cooperfield’s Books now offers customers to browser the print version and if they want to purchase it, they scan the book barcode, then they get a digital copy to load on to their eReader.

Could this be a model for the library?

Oct 14 2011

Staff Training Idea for eReaders

A Picture of a eBook

Image via Wikipedia

Jamie LaRue, Director of the Douglas County Libraries, shared this great idea for training staff on eBooks and eReaders. With the approval of his Board, the library provided a $50 rebate to library staff who purchased one of 6 pre-selected eBook readers/tablet devices.  Just over 100 staff took part in the rebate offer.  Jamie said the staff are learning so much about eBooks and devices because they are getting hands-on experience.  Staff are sharing tips and tricks with one another as well, many getting together during lunch to hash over the details of eBooks.

Sep 19 2011

eBook Summit

Don’t miss the upcoming LJ eBook Summit: eBooks The New Normal on Wednesday, October 12. It promises to be a full day of intriguing ideas that you won’t want to miss. I’m looking forward to this panel:

The Ebook Evolution: How They’ll Change Public Libraries
As ebooks catch fire with public library patrons librarians are poised to solve the problems of how to satisfy demand today, but they also need to gaze into the future to see how the rapid shift toward a more ubiquitous e-environment will transform the library itself. In this forward-thinking session, panelists will identify where libraries will be impacted such as space planning and marketing and they’ll dream about what the library can become in the best-case scenario.

If you would like to attend any of the sessions please send Isabel Boylan with the information on which sessions(s) you want to view.  We will use the Virtual Training Lab for the sessions unless we get a lot of people signing up then we will move to one of the Service Center meeting rooms.  Note: If you want to want to view one of the sessions not on the Public Library track it is very important to let us know so we schedule another meeting room.

Jul 21 2011

Mobile sites now remember your library card number on your device

The days of having to dig your library card out when you’re trying to download an eBook at the doctor’s office (or park, or airport terminal, or a bar mitzvah) are over. With the latest update to OverDrive-powered mobile sites, users will have the option for their devices to store their library card numbers.

Starting now, when customers check out a title, the device will have a box where they can check “Remember me on this device.” The device will then hold the characters in its memory for 90 days after each use. This is an optional service. If a library requires a pin, it will still be required to check out titles.

This update is a part of OverDrive WIN, a series of platform enhancements that will streamline user experience and provide access to more content. Check back to see more enhancements to your service.

Brianne Carlon Jul 21, 2011 12:02 PM

Jan 26 2011

Libraries at the Tipping Point?

There has been some discussion about what is scary about ebooks?

Here is an excellent presentation that, in my opinion, explains the issue pretty well. It’s from the

“ebooks: Libraries @ the tipping point” was an interesting online conference that occurred on September 29, 2010.

Eli Neiberger (Ann Arbor Public Library) gave a brilliant 20-minute presentation outlining the uncomfortable position ebooks puts libraries and offering several solutions.  I encourage you to listen to this presentation.

Part 1 (12 minutes): http://tinyurl.com/62rq6nm Part 2 (8 minutes): http://tinyurl.com/6l2u2or

Do you agree with what he is saying?

Aug 25 2010

ABCs of eReading

From the WSJ article – The ABCs of E-Reading

Technology has brought a range of features to books that wouldn’t be possible in print. Children’s author Lynley Dodd sells a title from her “Hairy Maclary” series as an app for the iPad. It lets parents or kids record themselves reading the book aloud, and a paint function lets kids color the original drawings themselves.

How cool is this?

Aug 23 2010

New in Books, Movies & More

We have been busy making the Books, Music & More page more user friendly.

We have had added two new tabs – New Arrivals and eMedia.

The eMedia tab contains links to get patrons started with downloadables as well as links to resources which will inform them when new content is purchased.

New items have been moved to their own tab to make the Books tab easier to find older items and makes it less confusing as to what is new and what is old. New Arrivals, also links to coming soon titles as well.

Be sure to check out the Books, Movies and More page if you have not been there for a while.