Since the Calloway County Public Library began making ebooks and other digital services available last year through Kentucky Libraries Unbound, the offerings have proven to be very popular with local patrons.
Kentucky Libraries Unbound (KLU), powered by OverDrive, is a consortium of Kentucky public libraries that gives people the ability to download free ebooks and audiobooks for a variety of devices, including Kindles, Nooks, iPads and Sony Readers. CCPL card holders can check out and download ebooks any time anywhere they have Internet access.
According to the KLU instructions, ebooks work like normal library books. KLU will have a digital “copy” of each book, and if a copy is available, patrons will be able to add it to their cart, check out and download the book. If all copies are checked out, the status for the ebook will read “place eHold,” which means the patron will have to wait for an available copy. Ebooks automatically expire after the check-out period (about 7-21 days), but people can check them back in early if they wish. People may check out 10 items from KLU at any time.
Sandy Linn, collection development manager, said that about three years ago, the library tried to join the Kentucky Libraries Unbound (KLU) consortium but had to wait a bit longer because its automation system at the time could not handle the OverDrive software well. Since the library was already in the process of taking bids for a new automation system, KLU was put on hold. Once it was in place, though, its impact was immediate.
“So last year in May, we went through the training for the automation system; we went live with the new automation system one week and went live with Kentucky Libraries Unbound the next week,” Linn said. “Every month since we’ve gone live, there has been an increase in circulation. It hasn’t knocked down the circulation of print and physical items. We still see really good circulation numbers for those materials, but this has just taken off. We had no way of anticipating how well that would be received.”
Linn said people come into the library almost weekly and say they have purchased ereaders or tablets or have put the KLU app on their phones.
“They’re here to stay,” Linn said of ebooks. “It’s very convenient with your electronic device.”
Linn said libraries pay a fee to be part of the KLU consortium, which then allows library patrons to check materials out from any location using their library cards. According to the KLU website, more than 90 libraries across the state are members. Linn noted that the availability of ebooks and audiobooks can vary depending on the publisher and the rules the publishers set up.
“Libraries purchase the materials, and everything that we buy as part of the consortium is shared with all the libraries that participate,” Linn said. “Some libraries — and we are one of them — pay an additional price to have an ‘advantage’ account, and with that advantage account, we select the materials that go into that and only our patrons can borrow those things.
“We did that because some of the best-sellers and some of the really popular things, we wanted our patrons to be able to get quicker. Because last summer, there were some books that had as many as 700 people on the waiting list. There were several copies of the books, but you’re talking about across the state of Kentucky.”
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