You Can Now Get Overdrive All Over Massachusetts

Great news! Overdrive, the library e-lending platform that brings books, magazines, and audiobooks to your mobile device, is now available throughout the state of Massachusetts. All libraries and their patrons now receive this fantastic service. Everything you’ve ever wanted out of an electronic book lending service is available now:

• Fine-free automatic returns
• Streaming audio capability
• Compatibility with iOS, Android, and Kindle
• Libby, an updated, user-friendly mobile app that makes using Overdrive a breeze

Better yet, the libraries of Massachusetts that already had Overdrive have merged their subscriptions. That means that the entire state enjoys the same pool of books and audiobooks. The only difference is that this pool is now huge. A patron with an MVLC library card can borrow books from the Boston Public Library’s digital collection. Someone with a library card from Provincetown can borrow a digital e-book owned by MVLC. All you have to do is choose your library consortium and log in.

Download the Libby app onto your Android or iOS device and try it for yourself! If you use a Kindle, download the Overdrive app or log onto Overdrive’s website through your computer’s Internet browser. Now is the time to enjoy a bigger, better range of e-books than ever before.

If you ever have trouble using Overdrive, the library is available to help. Just call us at (978)686-4080 or email a librarian to learn how to use this amazing service.

Here’s a complete list of the digital libraries to which Massachusetts residents now have free access:

Boston Public Library

CLAMS

CW MARS

Merrimack Valley Library Consortium

Minuteman Library Consortium

North of Boston Library Exchange

Old Colony Library Network

SAILS Library Network

 

Read anywhere with Libby!

You may already know about the Nevins Library’s many different e-book borrowing methods. We even wrote a post about them recently. You may even be using them at an increasingly rapid rate, judging by the anonymized statistics that the library gets from the companies that provide our digital books. But did you know that borrowing e-books is now easier and more fun than ever before? That’s right: there’s a new app in town, and it’s called Libby. Once you try it, you’ll see why we love it.

Libby is strictly for mobile. It’s an interface made for your phone or tablet, so don’t try and download it for your laptop or desktop computer. It draws from the OverDrive catalog, just like the old OverDrive app did. Think of Libby and the OverDrive app as two phones that can call the same number. In this analogy, the OverDrive app is a rotary and Libby is a smartphone. They both dial into OverDrive, but one is way faster and more fun to use than the other.

Libby features an easy-to-use interface that lets you return, renew, and read books with greater ease than ever. Instead of navigating a maze of directions to log in and borrow books, Libby keeps you logged in and even stores multiple cards at the touch of a button. Then, when you want to borrow a title, two taps get you the literary lusciousness that you crave. The item downloads right to your phone over wifi and then it’s yours for 21 sweet days of bliss. (Remember how the OverDrive app used to burn out your data plan? Libby will only download over wifi unless you expressly tell it otherwise.)

Two-tap returns and – yes – renewals make Libby the easy choice for the discerning reader. Best of all, the entire system is completely intuitive. Once you download, you’ll be amazed that you ever used anything else.

Remember, if you ever need help with a reading app, you can always ask the staff of the Nevins Memorial Library for assistance. We’re available from 9:00am to 9:00pm every Monday through Thursday, as well as 9:00am to 5:00pm on Fridays and on Saturdays in the winter.

Spotlight on Ebooks: Biblioboard

 

To enjoy Biblioboard, you really have to use a tablet. Or the screen of your at-work computer, if your boss is sympathetic to the plight of the graphic novel enthusiast. Biblioboard’s primary strength is comics – tons and tons of comics. There are many lesser-known, but roundly entertaining, indie titles from publishers like Milk Shadow Books and Markosia, and it’s possible to do a great deal of satisfying discovery in those alone. However, this platform also contains a great deal of material from one of the biggies: Dark Horse contributes Hellboy, various adventures of the Goon, and the entirety of Lone Wolf and Cub, to name just a little bit.

The Goon

Frankly, there’s no way to read this many comics in a lifetime. (The Conan back issues alone would take a hundred years.) This is the untouched mother lode of great, free, fantastic comics, and it’s there for the taking. Biblioboard’s sign-in is easy and its interface is fairly easy to search. Items are organized into collections – Dark Horse has one of its own – and browsing the catalog feels a lot like riffling through a much more functional, pretty, and useful version of Pinterest. And yes, you can also pin the treasures you find.

Even non-comics  is visually focused. In addition to comics and classics, Biblioboard features scans of artworks from Charles Lewis Bartholomew to N.C.Wyeth. Various collections are focused on Common Core education, tying books and artwork into classwork. It features classics, self-published work, and a neat link at the top right of the page where independent authors can submit their own work of genius for inclusion in the collection. Or, alternatively, where a professor can submit their self-published textbook or workbook for use and inclusion in their courses. With a platform as versatile and interactive as this one, it’s hard to imagine a limit to the possibilities.

Biblioboard is worth more than a look. It’s worth a good, old-fashioned browse. Find some time to check out the comic book collection, at least. It’s worth six or seven hours of your busy day.