Using a tablet or smartphone 1. Search for and download OverDrive via the app store on your device. 2. Search for and select your library system. 3. Log in with your library card number and PIN. Typically, your PIN is the last four digits of the phone number that the library has on file. 4. Browse or search for audio/e-books 5. Tap a book for details. Tap to borrow it or to place a hold. 6. Choose the length of the loan period, up to 21 days. With that done, open the menu, go to your Bookshelf and tap on a book to read it right on your device. In the case of an audio book, tapping will play the book and you can pause, skip chapters, scrub or jump forward or back in 15-second increments. You can even change the playback speed, up to 2x if you want to speed “read.” CSA Online by Andrew Moore-Crispin The Good Ol’ Library, Gone Digital I love the library. It’s one of the few public spaces in which a person can simply be without any expectation of money changing hands. Libraries are an important community resource. With the sum total of human knowledge accessible to anyone with a computer (the hyperbole doesn’t make it any less true), you’d be forgiven for thinking that the library is struggling to remain relevant in these digital times. However, it’s public apathy, not technology, that is the real threat to this important institution. Today, most libraries let you search their catalogue, reserve or renew anything that’s in the system, right on your smartphone…most often through a free app called BookMyne. Books, sure, but also DVDs, periodicals, audio CDs and much more. Online library catalogues aren’t new, but having the library catalogue accessible and searchable anywhere (in the bookstore, for example) is a game-changer. A better way to borrow physical material is just the beginning, however. You can also borrow e-books and audiobooks from many libraries. E-books, of course, are digital books which you read on a tablet, smartphone or dedicated e-reader device. Audio books are books on tape minus the tape; digital audio files containing a narrated story. How to get digital materials from the library In many ways, checking out a digital resource from the library is the same as physically checking out a book. You get it for up to 21 days. If there’s no one in line behind you to borrow the book, you can renew it for another period. There’s a set number of digital copies available to library patrons. How many will depend on the book’s popularity and on how many people the library serves. Popular books will have multiple copies. Hot new books will be in higher demand and might have a long list of holds. While I’d argue that everyone should visit the library, you don’t need to in this case. You don’t need to pick anything up or scan anything out. When the loan period is up, you don’t even need to return anything. The most popular e-book lending system for modern libraries is calledOverDrive. You can use the Overdrive app on any Android phone or tablet, iPhone or iPad. You can also access the service from any computer with a web browser by going tooverdrive.com. 46 | www.snowbirds.org
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