Audiobooks discussion
Non-Audible Sources
>
new Overdrive Hold Policy in March
date
newest »
newest »
I like auto borrow. Also this could increase wait times because you have 3 days to decide whether you want to borrow the book. So that seems to add 3 days to the borrowing period before the next person gets the borrow notice, and they also get 3 days to decide. Those 3 day periods can really add up.
i think you've always been able to turn that off - i remember having to turn the auto-borrow on
What Faith said.We've always been able to avoid getting hold books borrowed to us when we don't want them -- you just have to suspend the hold, which is easy to do. I haven't looked at this new thingie yet, but on the face of it I'm not impressed.
I think that the advantage of the new system is that you are at the top of the waiting list when you decide you are ready for the book. I don't think that was the case before with the 'suspend hold' feature.Personally, I have had the 'automatic checkout' feature turned off for a while now. I very rarely cancelled or suspended holds once the book is available but just dislike those sort of automatic features in general.
Rita wrote: "With out Autoborrow I would never know when a book was ready. Adding 3 more days to the hold period, benefits no one."You don’t get a notification?
I get emails when books are available to download and they can’t do autoborrow (ie when I’m maxed out on borrows)
Contrarius wrote: "What Faith said.We've always been able to avoid getting hold books borrowed to us when we don't want them -- you just have to suspend the hold, which is easy to do. I haven't looked at this new t..."
Does suspend hold drop you to the bottom of the pile? (I’ve never used it) or do you stay in roughly the same place in line?
Leslie wrote: "I think that the advantage of the new system is that you are at the top of the waiting list when you decide you are ready for the book. I don't think that was the case before with the 'suspend hold..."No, when you suspend a hold you climb to the top of the list and then stay there, so when you take off the suspension you are automatically the next in line (assuming you had risen to the top).
Here's Overdrive's official description, from the Overdrive website:
"
How to suspend a hold
Suspending a hold lets you continue moving up on a title's wait list without the title becoming available for you. If you reach #1 on the wait list, you'll be in the first position to get the book once your suspended hold period ends.
For example, you might want to suspend a hold for a popular ebook if you're on a long wait list for it, but know you'll be unable to read it because you're in the middle of another title. "
I only ever get "in line" for three books at once, just in case they are all ready at the same time. I get too antsy worrying that I will get a book I've really wanted and then not have time to listen.I'm afraid to turn off the auto-borrow feature for the same reason.
I dislike losing auto check out and the new policy means anyone not regularly checking their account could lose their hold. Not everyone has 24/7 internet or is able to check their email regularly. The three day grace period is not a new benefit but the way it was for those who chose not to do automatic check-out. Now we are deprived of the choice of whether or not we want auto check out. I agree with Faith that this 3 day grace period could easily increase wait times.Overdrive:
"Once per hold, if you take no action:
The "deliver after seven days" option will be automatically applied at the end of the three-day pickup window.
You'll stay at the front of the wait list.
The current copy will go to the next person in line.
If you take no action a second time, your hold will be canceled automatically."
I will probably say something at library about not liking the change since Overdrive insists patrons give feedback to their library not Overdrive. I wonder if library had some hints about this. The last few months they have been suggesting patrons to use Hoopla.
Contrarius wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I think that the advantage of the new system is that you are at the top of the waiting list when you decide you are ready for the book. I don't think that was the case before with th..."but is that the new policy or the current one?
L J wrote: "I dislike losing auto check out and the new policy means anyone not regularly checking their account could lose their hold. Not everyone has 24/7 internet or is able to check their email regularly...."my only problem with hoopla is that (at least my library) caps my borrows at 5 per month (they reduced it from 6) - whereas overdrive, i could basically listen/read as many books in the month as i wanted - also can't use hoopla on my kindle paperwhite (i have to use my fire because of how it downloads books)
My library system has slowly, over the last two years, been pushing people to change over to Libby. I have, for the most part, but I don't like their rewind/fast forward feature. They keep telling me it's more precise than Overdrive, but I do NOT find it so.I haven't seen this message on Libby yet, only Overdrive.
Dee wrote: "but is that the new policy or the current one? ..."What I quoted is the current policy. I’ve been using it for months.
so really the only thing that is changing is that you can defer your hold rather than just suspend
Dee wrote: "so really the only thing that is changing is that you can defer your hold rather than just suspend"What I object to is when this change takes place you can no longer set your account to auto check out.
"To support this feature, the automatic hold checkout setting will be removed from your library's OverDrive collection. You'll need to manually borrow your holds when they're available (including any current holds)."
yeah i think that kinda bugs me - maybe if you could customize it to different books - but i also remember when auto-checkout didn't exist
It can be annoying for people using regularly but I think it can also speed up waiting time considerably. Some people put them on hold and forget or lose interest and it would be auto borrowed for 14 days or so not consuming it.
Dee wrote: "so really the only thing that is changing is that you can defer your hold rather than just suspend"No. Currently I can suspend a hold for as long as I like, AND I can gets my books borrowed automatically, without having to check in. It looks like — and I still haven’t read the details, so I could be wrong — with the new policy I’ll only be able to defer a hold for three days, AND I’ll have to actually go over and actively agree to accept the loan of a book whenever my hold becomes available.
Boo, I say!
Contrarius wrote: "Dee wrote: "so really the only thing that is changing is that you can defer your hold rather than just suspend"No. Currently I can suspend a hold for as long as I like, AND I can gets my books bo..."
It’s not getting rid of the suspend hold I didn’t think
Ugggh. I just read the page linked at the top of this thread. It looks annoyingly complicated. It also sounds like it's meant to replace the "suspend hold" option, though it doesn't say that specifically.I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see how it works in practice!
While at the library today I asked about the Overdrive changes. Even the head of the department that would be in responsible for dealing with this had received no information. No email. Nothing. I think that is unfair since Overdrive tells patrons if they have a problem they should contact their library.Added for clarification: I was at library talking to librarians. It's very possible those in administration know about this but administration building for the system is in another town.
interesting - when i go to the library next week, i'll ask if mine knows anything about it - but in general it seems like they are very disconnected from overdrive - when i was having issues i had to work with someone else at another branch who had the permissions to fix my account
I like the auto borrow, but let's see what happens
Dee wrote: "interesting - when i go to the library next week, i'll ask if mine knows anything about it - but in general it seems like they are very disconnected from overdrive..."Mine also seem disconnected.
One Librarian's response was particularly interesting. I was asked if I used Hoopla and Kanopy. The library is encouraging the use of Hoopla instead of OverDrive because they consider Hoopla less expensive at $2 per checkout and a limit of 6 checkouts per patron per month. The popularity of Hoopla is cutting into OverDrive's market and that could be why OverDrive is making changes. I'm thinking this may not work the way they hope. Without automatic checkout I'm thinking I should cut down on books I recommend for purchase because when book comes in it is added to my holds and I could miss it.
OverDrive fee may allow less than 30 checkouts of book depending on publisher then library has to repurchase. The problem seems to be that library buys multiple copies of popular titles from OverDrive then is stuck with too many copies that are not being checked out or they don't buy enough copies for sustained demand and have to repurchase.
I told librarians I used Hoopla but not Kanopy. One of the librarians asked me why I didn't use Kanopy then answered her own question, "Oh, right, no books." I find it interesting that they are still pushing Kanopy when other systems have quit it due to expense. Last I knew library was charged $2 per movie viewed and a movie was considered viewed after running 30 seconds.
I prefer OverDrive to Hoopla for both audio and ebooks but as my library system prefers Hoopla I am stuck with using it. I have a reciprocal card from another system which has more of the OverDrive books I read and where I have 9 books on hold. Sure will miss having automatic checkout.
Rita wrote: "I asked my library about Hoopla and they said that they couldn't afford both Overdrive and Hoopla."Local library system got Hoopla last year and the cost immediately went over amount budgeted so money had to be pulled from elsewhere to pay for it. I only know one other person using it for books and books only. Most I have talked to are using Hoopla for TV series, movies or music. I think the book selection is poor compared to OverDrive especially when it comes to audio books. I did find a text to speech program that works with it when on the computer but it is not ideal.
When you go to the check out desk of your local branch public library, you are most likely doing business with a clerk, not a Librarian. A clerk might not be kept current on what Overdrive is going to do, unless they are Overdrive users themselves. Ask for the manager or the reference Librarian. Even then the manager/Librarian might not know about the changes Overdrive announced a few days ago.
Kathleen wrote: "When you go to the check out desk of your local branch public library, you are most likely doing business with a clerk, not a Librarian. A clerk might not be kept current on what Overdrive is going..."I know which ones are librarians and which ones are clerks. The one I talked to most is not only a librarian she's a department head and assistant Branch Manager & Regional Coordinator.
This new policy has begun. There is now an icon on the overdrive library page for notifications if you have a book on hold that is now available. I also got an email saying "action required" because a book I had on hold was available for borrowing.
Last evening I was number 6 on the wait list of a book with 5 copies. Today it is available to me. I suspect that a few of the people ahead of me weren’t ready for the book, putting my name at the top of the list. So, the new policy might have worked to my benefit.
Kathleen wrote: "Last evening I was number 6 on the wait list of a book with 5 copies. Today it is available to me. I suspect that a few of the people ahead of me weren’t ready for the book, putting my name at the ..."Well, that is good news!
My long wait lists are definitely available sooner and I like the option of passing on to next person when I'm not ready to read them yet. It takes less than 1 min to choose borrow or suspend when available to me I think I like this new feature.
Something odd is happening with my current Overdrive hold on a Simon & Schuster Audio March 24 release. Local Library system with check-out period of 3 weeks
When the book was released I was
#2 on 1 copy estimated wait time at least 12 weeks.
Next time I checked
#2 on 1 copy estimated wait time at least 14 weeks
Now
#2 on 1 copy estimated wait time about 16 weeks and 7 people waiting
I checked library where I have reciprocal card and with 2 week check-out I'm
#15 on 1 copy wait time at least 6 months and 77 people waiting
Six months is about right for where I am in queue but this system usually adds copies when there are 8 or more people waiting - they have 12 audio copies of previous book in series and 8 of the one before that.
I have a friend who is next in line for the single copy of OverDrive ebook I have checked out for 3 weeks. Her account shows:#1 on 1 copy
Wait time: About 18 weeks
I told her on phone "I promise I only have it for 3 weeks!" I even went to my account to be sure that was the case.
ETA: A few minutes later. It now says her wait time is about 20 weeks.
My library uses Overdrive. Some books give accurate hold times. Other books have a message stating: Some copies of this title belong to specific member libraries, and their users are given priority for holds on those copies. For this reason, users may jump forward or backward on the waitlist, So we can’t accurately predict wait time.
I found several that didn’t make sense at all. One is for The Institute by Stephen king.
0 of 8 copies available
Total people waiting 0
People waiting per copy 0
I hope they renew then. Just browsing my wish list I randomly found 5 like that.
Andrea wrote: "My library uses Overdrive. Some books give accurate hold times....0 of 8 copies available
Total people waiting 0
People waiting per copy 0"
I was told when the 0 thing comes up go ahead and place a hold. If there is sufficient interest the library would consider re-purchasing.
My friend who is next in line for the new OverDrive ebook I am reading just called me. Her wait today says "at least 6 months" instead of the "about 20 weeks" it was yesterday. She received a notification that she was #1 on 1 copy, went online and found the wait period had gone up.I receive hold is available but I've not receive #1 in queue notice. Could they have started doing this because people were failing to check out their books? I've missed two so far, one because I confused the time the other I didn't see the notice.
L J wrote: "Andrea wrote: "My library uses Overdrive. Some books give accurate hold times....0 of 8 copies available
Total people waiting 0
People waiting per copy 0"
I was told when the 0 thing comes up go ..."
Yeah, I was told that too a few years ago when my library's licence for several of Terry Pratchett's DiscWorld books ran out. A few months later, the books became available again so I will second this advice.
Managing available holds with "deliver later"
In March, we're introducing a new option for available holds in your library's OverDrive collection: Deliver later. This feature gives you more control over your holds, so you can borrow and read titles when it's most convenient for you.
To support this feature, the automatic hold checkout setting will be removed from your library's OverDrive collection. If you have any current holds, they'll be updated to remove that setting and you'll need to manually borrow them when they're available.
this showed up on my library's overdrive page today - i'm interested to see how it will work
i like the idea of being able to delay a hold but staying close to the front of the line (especially in the case where you have multiple books that come available all at once) - but i did like the convenience of the auto-borrow