You may have noticed that the Overdrive catalog has a new look. It’s not just cosmetic - there are some major changes.
Each
title has an icon of a book on the upper-right-hand corner of the
cover. If it is black, the book is available. If it’s greyed-out, all
copies are checked out. If you click on the bookmark on the lower left
of the cover, the book is automatically added to your wish list.
When
you search, filter options are available on the left side. You can
filter by format, language, subject, publisher, grade level, device, or
items available now.
There
is also the new option “additional titles to recommend”. These are
titles that SPPL does not own, but are available from Overdrive. Patrons
can suggest that they be purchased. This include audiobooks, which we
currently do not purchase from Overdrive.
There
are fewer steps to check out, especially for those who use Adobe
Digital Editions. The catalog remembers your preferred check out period,
so you don’t have to choose it every time. You can still change it for
an individual book. Format (Kindle or EPUB) is chosen by radio button,
which should reduce errors. There is a note warning that “Once you
select a format, you may only be able to return the title via the
software.” Some titles can now be returned early by logging in to the
patron “account”, but not all.
One
nice new feature for patrons who read on their computer, or if they
have other technical issues preventing use of apps or downloading, is
“Read in your browser”. Patrons can move to a different chapter, search
for words, and make bookmarks, just as they do in software or apps. This
feature is publisher-dependent, so not all titles are available in this
format. Patrons who use Internet Explorer may need to download the
Google Chrome Frame Plug-in to use all the features.
Perhaps
assuming that fewer patrons are new to the process or are using the
Adobe Digital Editions software, there are fewer links to it. A link
called “software” is at the very bottom left of every page between
“help” and copyright information, but it can be easy to miss. There is
also a “get software” link on the right in the patron account’s
“bookshelf” view.
For more information, check out this page from Overdrive:
--Andrea @Central
No comments:
Post a Comment