A few years ago my best friend texted me in the middle of the night. She wanted to know what the number on the back of my library card was. I got out of bed and found the card and gave her the number, but I couldn’t help but wonder “why the heck does she need my library card number at 12:42 am?!” So I asked and that’s when I found out that she was going to use it to digitally rent a book from the library. She was bored and found out that the library offered free eBooks through a system called Overdrive.
Soon, I started borrowing books from the library through overdrive as well. At that time the way it worked was similar to an in-person library, where you gave your library card number and you were then able to borrow a book for 14 days. To access your eBook you could “rent” it through amazon kindle and once the 14 days were up you could renew the book or it would automatically be returned to the library for the next person to use. Like a regular library, there are limited copies of each book and waitlists.
Now fast forward 5 years, Overdrive has created a really awesome app called “Libby” so instead of renting from Overdrive then through Amazon, you just download the Libby app and everything happens inside the app. Libby has Ebooks and Audiobooks also.
This is how I get access to 1000’s of books for free every year.
Since using Overdrive/Libby I’ve read over 100 books. In cases where the digital wait is too long or I simply just want to read a print book (but don’t want to purchase it), I go to my local library and borrow the book (yes folks libraries do still exist). The library system I use is the NYPL but there are many libraries that use Overdrive to supply digital books and if they dot use overdrive the possibly have their own digital archive of books.
I hope I’ve inspired you to take advantage of the resources offered at local libraries because they are underutilized.
by Georgie-Ann Geton © All rights reserved