Sometimes a library customer places requests on OverDrive eBooks and then they are issued a new library card. They are notified by email that their eBook is ready for them to check out, but that eBook request is tied to their old inactive card. At that point OverDrive won’t allow them to check out the title on the old card because it’s invalid and OverDrive won’t allow them to check out the title on the new card because the request is tied to the old card. Because OverDrive and Sirsi only connect to validate a card, there is no way to address this in Sirsi. OverDrive must make the necessary change to allow the title to be checked out on the new card.
What do you need to do when issuing a new library card?
Ask the customer if they use our eBook service. If they don’t use our eBooks, you don’t need to do anything. If they do use our eBooks, you’ll need to send an email asking to have their old library card and new library card numbers merged in the Overdrive patron database.
Go to Outlook email and send a message to: Libraryebookhelp@co.anoka.mn.us
· Use “Card Merge Request” as the email subject.
· Provide this information in the body of the email:
“Customer has received a new library card and needs to access requests on their old card. Please merge these accounts: 22085XXXX (provide old barcode number) and 22085XXXX (provide new barcode number).”
This should be done when the new card is issued, so the customer does not lose their place in the queue for their eBooks on request and so they can continue to access the eBooks they currently have checked out and their wish lists.
I am getting questions from patrons lately asking when we will get a certain ebook or how long it takes us after they are published. Is there a way for patrons to "suggest" an ebook? I know some major publishers don't sell to libraries--do we have a list of those?
ReplyDeleteLibrary customers can make a purchase suggestion for eBooks, just like they do for other formats. The Purchase Suggestion form is located within Anokat from "Contact Us". They should be sure to include "eBook" in the box that says "Book, CD, DVD, etc". It's a good idea to let our customers know that this is a suggestion form only. Submitting the form doesn't guarantee we'll be able to buy their suggestion.
ReplyDeleteThe last I heard, there are at least two big publishers who don't release any of their offerings in eBook format: McMillan and Simon & Schuster. But as we saw with the Kindle situation and the recent changes with Harper & Collins offerings, this could change at any time.
Unfortunately, there isn't an easy way to know if a book will be available in eBook format for our ACL customers. The author has to make an eBook publishing agreement with their publisher and then OverDrive has to come to an agreement with the publisher to be able to offer the eBook to their customers. Once a title is available through OverDrive, we can purchase the title, but as with everything else, we have budget constraints as to what can be purchased.
Long answer, I know. But there are just too many ever-changing variables to have a readily available answer for our customers. It's really a matter of title-by-title availability and budget.
Thanks for asking!