Changes are on the horizon in 2014 as we continue to improve our digital collections. Right after New Year’s Day, Princeton Public Library will unveil a new version of our e-book and digital audiobook library, via OverDrive®, Inc. While the library has been offering digital content to our customers since 2005 as part of the eLibraryNJ consortium, on January 2, 2014 we strike out on our own with a new PPL OverDrive collection and website.
What does this mean to you as you select and borrow e-books and audiobooks to download? For several years, the library has purchased OverDrive Advantage copies of popular titles just for our library customers’ use, so that our cardholders would not have to wait as long for shared consortium copies of in-demand titles. All of our previous Advantage purchases will carry over into our new OverDrive collection. We also have purchased copies of popular titles our cardholders have on hold, so any of your outstanding holds should carry over into the new collection.
Because we are building our new PPL OverDrive collection ourselves, from the ground up, and without contributions from the other 50 plus eLibraryNJ consortium members, initially you will notice a decrease in the sheer number of titles available on the new OverDrive website. Our focus is on quality selections that meet our community’s diverse and eclectic reading and listening preferences. We’ll constantly be adding new e-book and audiobook titles and content to expand your choices, and we’ll offer a way to directly suggest future purchases on the website. The popular library of over 11,000 always-available classic public domain e-book titles from OverDrive will also be available.
Other positive changes include a more attractive interface, a more customized digital collection and loan policy, and the option to contribute to the library’s digital content collection development fund via the OverDrive WIN program.
In the grand scheme, later in 2014, we look forward to offering you a seamless check-out experience for downloadable OverDrive content through our Bibliocommons online catalog. It’s coming. Think about finding an e-book in our online catalog, checking the title out immediately, right from your MY PPL account, and downloading your title into your device, all with a lot less fussing and clicking. Our new PPL OverDrive collection is a building block to offering these improvements.
No doubt, at the end of 2103, our library collections are in transition to a new and changing landscape where digital content meets traditional books and media, with room for all to sample and enjoy the library’s offerings.
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