Posted by Anne M on Saturday, Jan 16, 2016
When it comes to holds, does it seem like all of your eBooks or audiobooks become available all at once? This happens to me all of the time. I find a few audiobooks I want to listen to, but they are currently checked out to someone else, so I place holds. Then a few days later, I receive several email notifications that all of them are ready for me to check out. Five audiobooks in three weeks for me is not happening. But it doesn't have to be this way. Our eBook and digital audiobook provider, OverDrive offers a few tools for me to manage my reading much better than just placing holds. I can save books for later.
The Wish List
The first option is using the wish list. Rather than placing holds on everything, I can just add the titles to a list. Underneath the large, red "Borrow" or "Place Hold" b
utton is this small, tiny, gray "Add to Wish List" option. If you click on that, the book is added to your "Wish List". There are no limits on the amount of items you can have on your wish list, you can add or delete items at any time, and best of all, you can filter the list to only see the items that are available right now. You'll find your wish list in your OverDrive account at overdrive.icpl.org.
Suspending a Hold
So maybe you want to keep a hold, you are just not ready for the book right now. This is a great option if you've made it to the top of a long waiting list, but are in the middle of something else and don't want to lose your place. You've waited so long! If you "suspend a
hold," you can pick a window of time (7, 14, 21, 28, 60, or 90 days) where you'll keep your place in line for the book, but won't actually get the book until the time period is over or you remove the suspension. During the suspension, it goes to the next user in line. This option can be found on your holds list in your OverDrive account at overdrive.icpl.org.
For more OverDrive tips, click on the "OverDrive Tips" tag below.
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About the Author
Anne Mangano has worked for the Iowa City Public Library since 2008, serving as the Collection Services Coordinator since 2013. In this position, she oversees the Library’s collection, including the selection, cataloging, processing, repair, and removal of materials. She also plans and directs ICPL’s digital collections, including the Local...
Set in 1894 Minneapolis, the backdrop is a new city, teeming with possibilities--and every vice that comes with that. Abby, a progressive crusader and treasurer of the Bethany House for Unwed Mothers is desperately trying to solicit donations and lobby city leaders to support the work of the respite home. She needs to shore up their reputation as their work might not have the support of the incoming mayoral administration. And then Faith shows up. Newly pregnant, unable to speak, wearing an expensive gown, and looking as if she survived a serious act of violence, Faith is welcomed into the house’s community. But she comes with rumors—rumors of the occult, of magic powers, of mesmerism and she is quickly blamed by the other girls in the house for any small misfortune. Abby wants to help the girl—that is her prerogative and the purpose of the Bethany Home. But she also doesn’t want Faith’s reputation to be a blight on their tenuous stance in Minneapolis. She tasks May, Faith’s roommate to figure out how Faith got to Bethany. The answer is far more human than supernatural. -Anne M