I was really interested in this week’s topic of seeing what other libraries are doing with media, apps, and mobile tech.
The first thing that popped into my mind was Overdrive. I’m a huge fan of being able to read ebooks on the go, and to listen to audio books, especially since I often have road trips to make, or twice daily dog walks (my dog isn’t much of a conversationalist, so it helps pass the hours of walking we do). My last car didn’t have bluetooth, so I’ve been very excited about all of the books I can listen to with my new car. I haven’t yet made the switch to Libby (the new version), but it’s on my kids’ tablets and they love it. The best part about this is that I’m not limited to the books at my library since we are part of the BC Libraries Cooperative: Library2go and there are many more books in all of these collections that I can draw on. I may also maintain a library card from another very large Canadian city and have access to even more resources!
I frequently recommend this online option to students, especially when they are looking for audio versions of classroom novels (it’s taking us a bit of time to get our audio book collection established). But with every up, comes a down! Recently, the Ottawa Public Library sent a letter to patrons and talked with CBC asking for patrons to sign a protest against MacMillan Publishers for severly limiting how many ebooks public libraries (only 1 copy!) can purchase for new releases. This is terrible for all of the people who rely on public libraries as their main source of information. Not everyone can afford to buy their own copy of every book they want to read – and nor should they have to in my humble opinion.
In a different direction, I was also interested to see what other libraries were offering for mobile apps. One of the first sites I stumbled upon was a software company that dedicated to libraries and their needs. Their article “5 Ways Library Mobile Apps Make Life Easier for Everyone” got me thinking about how a library mobile app can be more than an ebook / audiobook reader. There were the obvious ones that I completely overlooked like checking on your account any time, anywhere. I do this all the time myself, though from a web browser. It was the second one that really caught my interest: Free, Local events are easier to discover. I’m always looking for ways to get people involved in our library learning commons events. This is definitely something I need to look into and there are certainly a lot of different apps out there I could use!
Then I looked at two very differently sized libraries: the Thompson-Nicola Regional Library (my home public library) and the Toronto Public Library. I found that both library systems had similar mobile apps or online databases for ebooks & magazines (rb digital and Tumblebook), language learning (Rocket or Mango), and then a whole bunch more for learning various things like mechanics, listening to music (Naxos) or streaming movies / TV (Hoopla & Kanopy) and other neat things. While I don’t think that my school library learning commons is financially capable of doing all of that, it does remind me that we were wanting to find a way to make our magazine subscriptions available online, so perhaps one of these apps will work!
This was interesting for this week as you went in a different, but still valuable, direction with our topic. Looking at ways Libraries are leveraging digital devices, formats and models is a great way to see what is happening and how patrons are best supported here in Canada. Your explorations into Overdrive and other apps was insightful and I am glad you mentioned the publisher’s recent reduction of Ebook purchasing and lending by public libraries. You should also know that Overdrive cannot promise individual titles or author as Publishers are constantly adding/deleting books from their digital catalogue. A good overview of the state of mobile in modern libraries.
Thanks for that link! The first time I clicked on it, it opened, but now it won’t, which I’m sad about because I didn’t have time to copy any of the info!
Oh dear! Which link would you like? I can send it to you directly.
Thanks for the information on Overdrive. Why have I never heard of this? Perhaps because I haven’t read for pleasure in years! I think it’s a shame that they limit the number of e-readers… seems so bizarre in this day in age! Is your school elementary or secondary? Do you use the public library to access e-readers for use in your own library? What about audio books? I’m wondering for some of my struggling readers who would benefit from some more mature books. Cheers!
Hi Kathleen.
I’m at a secondary school, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use this with an elementary school. I’m also looking at purchasing audio books through Follett because we’re using Destiny in our district for our library systems. It works the same way; only one person can check it out at a time. Unlike Overdrive, you can’t download the file to your device – you listen to it from a web browser I think. They do have an app, but I’m still playing with it. Our LAC teacher and I are working on this because it’s a great support for students in English classes who are having trouble with reading the novel (s).
Also, it’s fun! We’re using the audio book for our next book club / Battle of the Books meeting because we don’t want to buy 10 copies of the book (I just don’t think they’ll get enough use), but the audio book is great! Full cast with a sound track (it’s The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman).
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