Libby Hacks for Happier Reading

If you use Libby to access our eBook and digital audiobook collections, you may have questions about the service and, not surprisingly, we get asked a few questions repeatedly. Here are some tips for making the most out of your use of Libby, based on the most frequently asked questions about the service.

Why do I need to place a digital item on hold and why is the wait so long?

Many publishers want to treat eBooks and digital audiobooks like physical items, so even though one would think sharing a file would mean unlimited check-outs and that everyone who wants to borrow the book can do so at the same time, the reality is there is still a wait. But, the wait is never as long as one would expect based on the estimate given on Libby or the eLibraryNJ website. In reality, there are far more copies of most titles that are not factored into the estimates and titles can arrive in weeks or even days, not the anticipated months. OverDrive, which runs Libby, overestimates the wait time by assuming everyone on the list ahead of you borrows the title and keeps it out for a full three weeks. They also base the estimate on the number of copies owned by the full consortium (eLibraryNJ includes over 50 member libraries) and do not count Advantage copies. Advantage copies are extras bought by some libraries for exclusive use by their patrons. Mercer County Library System is one of these libraries, and our wait times are much lower than the estimates since we have access to more copies. You will see this expressed as Lanes when you place a hold. The service may say you are number 136 in two lanes. What that translates to is the consortium may have 10 copies for those 136 people on hold, but there may only be 15 Mercer patrons on hold and we own 3 Advantage copies. So, you are really moving up in two holds queues – 136 for 10 copies and 15 for 3 copies. The reality is there are a total of at least 13 copies available and our patrons will get our three copies exclusively. In this case, the estimate is a ten-month waiting period. But add the other three copies and the fact that you are now number 15 of 15 and the wait is suddenly at most ten weeks. Do not worry about the math on this and just take away the bottom line – the wait time is way over-estimated and the title will arrive much quicker than you expect.

There is also a bit of a bonus here as well. Some publishers are now selling 100 concurrent user packs and the consortium buys those to fill holds quickly. A title with 136 people on hold could drop to 36 with the purchase of one pack.

Why am I limited to 5 holds?

Since you can only have 5 items checked out at once, the number of active and suspended holds are set to 5 each so you don’t miss a hold. There is a wish list/tagging feature on Libby and many users find it helpful to add titles with a lot of holds to these lists and then move them over to their holds list once the number of holds on the title dwindles down. That way, titles with shorter lists can be active and get to you while something with a long list gets lower and doesn’t use up a space on your holds list. With tagging you can even do categories, like series tags or genre tags, so it is easier to find titles based on how you organize your reading lists.

I suspended a few titles on hold and went back six months later and there are now no copies left, how did that happen?

Use caution when suspending holds. Some publishers only sell limited time licenses for titles and in some cases will pull an older title if there is an updated version issued. If you suspend for more than six months, you risk having the title expire out of the system. Popular titles are reordered if they are still for sale, but some may not be available. This happens a lot with non-fiction titles that may have a new version issued with updated information. It is best to use suspend hold for limited time periods, such as a few weeks or months.

I want a title and cannot find it in Libby, can I suggest you buy it?

Yes, but not in the traditional way. On Libby, you can do a deep search for titles that are not owned by the service but can be sold to libraries, and then use the Notify Me tag to suggest the title be purchased. The library will see this title show up on a list of titles and can purchase them. To add a Notify Me tag, search for the title. If you do not see what you want, scroll all the way to the bottom and you should see Deep Search is available in the filters for this search. Tap it and scroll down to the deep search option and the results list will refresh and include the unowned titles. Next just tap the Notify Me bell icon and the message is sent to the library. Once it is ordered, you will get a notification so you can place it on hold.

- by Laura, Information Technology Department