Posted by Anne M on Monday, Feb 5, 2018
Sometimes some small details can make a big difference in how you experience something, especially if it saves time. Here are some small things you can do in Libby, our app for OverDrive eBooks and audiobooks that make reading (or listening) even easier.
Get right to what you want by changing your search preferences
By clicking the plus sign, you can change how your search results are filtered and sorted. See only what is available right now or only titles in a specific format. Or change to have Libby sort by what’s most popular, by title or author, or by release date.
Like to know where you are or how much you have left to go?
One of the things I love about a book, a real bounded, paper book, is looking at the number of pages in my left hand versus the number in my right. It is satisfying as the pages transfer from one hand to the other. With audiobooks (or eBooks), this sort of translates to the percentage completed. To find out where you are in a book in the Libby app, tap on the time left or the page numbers above the timeline. For eBooks, it will show the pages left in the chapter. Another tap will give you the percentage of the total book completed. The audiobook will give you these options, but in time.
Want to read the next book in a series?
You can find series information pretty easily now in Libby. Searching the series name will bring up results that indicate a series search. You can search for a series and the results will come up…in order! And each book in the series will indicate what number it is in the series in the book details, as well as the other titles in the series—and the order to read them in.
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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...
I enjoyed Geraldine Brooks’ “Horse.” It read fast, I suppose like it’s main subject, one of the greatest racehorses in US history, Lexington. I loved the central idea: what parts of our history seem so important at the time they occur, then forgotten and discarded, only to be found with new meaning. This story centers on a discarded painting of a horse and some equine bones in a Smithsonian storage facility. From that idea, people, places, events are vividly captured on the page: this horse is important in so many different ways. The novel recreates the relationship between Jarrett, an enslaved horse trainer and Lexington, as well as those who come into contact with the painting of Jarret. There was something disjointed and uneven about the narrative, especially the interplay between the past and present. While Jarrett’s story in the 1850’s and 1860’s was deeply rich, the other characters seemed like afterthoughts, there only to make the connection from the past to the present. Perhaps that is the point. Brooks is trying to draw attention to and bring to life through fiction an individual that was unnoted and forgotten but central to racing history. I’ll be thinking more about this at length, which is all I ask of a book. -Anne M