Alternate Ways to Read

No review this week.  I'm tied up in a lot of books at the moment, which is a good thing, but makes it hard to write a review without actively finishing a book.  But it gives me time to talk about something that's very popular.

I don't own an e-reader.  I love the way that books feel in my hands and always have.  My parents both have Kindle 3G devices, and at the library I get lots of requests to learn about e-books and e-devices.  Thanks to everyone that has let me play with with their Kindles, Nooks, iPads, and tablets, I have a pretty good idea of how to navigate through Overdrive to find the things I'm looking for, but it can be very confusing.

The biggest problems I had with Overdrive when getting to learn it were

1) Not all print materials that are available in the library, are actually in e-book format.

2) Not all formats work with every device.

Crazy right?! When I could find an e-book I was interested in testing it was either not available or had a bunch of holds on it.  I'm sure some of you may have had the same problem.  I'll start by explaining the holds.  When we buy e-books, they come in a format where one person at a time can use that digital copy, just like a regular library book.  But if you're logged in whether through digital.library.net or the Overdrive Media Console app, if you place a hold on the e-book you will get an email when the e-book is waiting for you and you have the convenience of downloading it from home.  

What do you mean, "not all formats work with every device"?  Well its a bit complicated, it depends on what kind of device you are using and what kind of files are compatible. Overdrive does have a handy chart to help figure out what works with what at www.overdrive.com/drc (I find the most useful of their lists to be the list of Incompatible devices for Epub and WMA)  Basically Kindle files will only work with Kindles, Abobe Epubs work with Apple devices and Nooks, and MP3 files are more compatible to more devices than WMA.  

But the best part about using Overdrive is that there are no fines and everything is almost instantaneous.  The only acception to that is that audiobooks cannot be returned early if you do accidentally download something incorrectly.  Even this isn't as bad as you might think it is; you can have 5 things downloaded at once and you get to choose how long things are checked out for. Worst case scenario is that you have to wait a couple days for the item to expire itself.

I know that there is a that little bit of fear when you want to try something new and are afraid you might accidentally break the whole system.  Really, I do. People trust me with their brand new holiday gifts or birthday presents, but the best thing to do is try.  Like Ms. Frizzle said "Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!" Ok, maybe not the messy part.  But the best way to learn is to press all the buttons and see what happens.  You can't hurt your device and you can't wrack up hundreds of dollars in fines.  And remember, there are people at the library who are ready and willing to help you with any issues that you might have. 

Stefanie Aucoin (me), Mare Parker O'Toole, or Erica Cote are all able to work through downloading that first book with you.  You can reach us at knowandlearn@medfieldlibrary.org to make an appointment.