Non-Resident Library Cards

[spacepope]

Originally Posted by copyrite

Hoopla has no ebooks in my county, but another county has a decent supply of audiobooks and ebooks in Hoopla.

Not sure which county you got a card in, but Montgomery County MD (MCPL) has a really nice collection of books and audio through Hoopla.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Libby is an Overdrive app. It handles ePub and audiobooks. Stark is not switching from Overdrive to Libby. What they are doing is switching from the Overdrive app to Libby. I'm guessing that the Overdrive app may no longer work.

Heavens to Betsy, I left out the word "app" in my post. Floggings are in order.

It must be exhausting to be you. To have to read every.single.post, on the lookout for a mistyped or missing word. And then to make sure the offending party is duly notified of their offense.

When do you sleep?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Heavens to Betsy, I left out the word "app" in my post. Floggings are in order.

It must be exhausting to be you. To have to read every.single.post, on the lookout for a mistyped or missing word. And then to make sure the offending party is duly notified of their offense.

When do you sleep?

Leaving out that one word changes the meaning completely,

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Leaving out that one word changes the meaning completely,

I'm fairly sure most readers here were able to deduce what I meant, given the topic of this thread.

But it's nice you're here to make sure.

[Manabi]

I'm not aware of any libraries that offer non-resident library cards, but Tennessee actually did something right for a change and made one large ebook library for the entire state. Thanks to this, even if you live in a small town here, you have access to a large selection of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and videos through R.E.A.D.S. (Regional eBook and Audiobook Download System), which is run by Overdrive. Looks like there's 77,581 Kindle titles, 72,550 epub & 22,164 audiobooks.

They even made it incredibly simple to use. Your local library card is your login, so I just select my library and type in my whopping four digit card number and have full access. I noticed they've added a mobile phone number verification as well, somehow using it to determine if your zip code's in the state.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Manabi

I'm not aware of any libraries that offer non-resident library cards, but Tennessee actually did something right for a change and made one large ebook library for the entire state. Thanks to this, even if you live in a small town here, you have access to a large selection of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and videos through R.E.A.D.S. (Regional eBook and Audiobook Download System), which is run by Overdrive. Looks like there's 77,581 Kindle titles, 72,550 epub & 22,164 audiobooks.

They even made it incredibly simple to use. Your local library card is your login, so I just select my library and type in my whopping four digit card number and have full access. I noticed they've added a mobile phone number verification as well, somehow using it to determine if your zip code's in the state.

It looks like at least some of the member libraries have out-of-state / non-resident options, although the two I see don't specifically say if they include e-books. There is a large list of libraries to check here although many of the links aren't live: https://reads.overdrive.com/support/members

Williamson County Public Library: https://www.wcpltn.org/438/Get-a-Library-Card-Account
$25/semi-annually ($50/year)

Germantown Community Library: https://www.germantown-tn.gov/servic.../library-cards
$50/year

[Paperbackstash]

It looks like most florida counties have an out of state program.
The Martin County Library System is $50 a year or has cheaper options for three months
https://www.martin.fl.us/Libraries - They have Overdrive/Libby, etc, with Overdrive here - https://martin.overdrive.com/ - Only looks to have a bit over 11,000 ebooks on Overdrive though

[Paperbackstash]

I've looked around on St Louis Library and do not see an option to get a non-resident card. Am I missing it somewhere? I see when you do access their Overdrive, that it links to two other libraries in their network as well with their own Overdrive pages

https://www.slpl.org/get-a-card/

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I've looked around on St Louis Library and do not see an option to get a non-resident card. Am I missing it somewhere? I see when you do access their Overdrive, that it links to two other libraries in their network as well with their own Overdrive pages

https://www.slpl.org/get-a-card/

You have to become "friend of the library" for $40. They give you a card.

https://www.slpl.org/slpl-foundation/become-a-friend/

However, I feel there are better option out there.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by Fbone

You have to become "friend of the library" for $40. They give you a card.

https://www.slpl.org/slpl-foundation/become-a-friend/

However, I feel there are better option out there.

Ah okay thank you, that makes sense.

I have read a few posts on the Reddit forum that many are able to get one from the Broward county in Florida - but the website isn't loading, must be down.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Ah okay thank you, that makes sense.

I have read a few posts on the Reddit forum that many are able to get one from the Broward county in Florida - but the website isn't loading, must be down.

The website says it requires in-person registration. How did they get the cards?

​Non-Resident All Access Card – Full access to borrow all Broward County Library materials and use online resources. Valid for up to one year and costs $50. (Visit a Broward County Library to obtain card.)

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The website says it requires in-person registration. How did they get the cards?

You are correct. However, it seems like everyone has a card with them because Broward doesn’t verify registration. These people are just putting in random Fort Lauderdale addresses. People do the same thing with the Chicago Public Library. I think it’s totally unethical, but I also think these libraries should have some checks and balances if they don’t want people doing this.

[copyrite]

Originally Posted by spacepope

Not sure which county you got a card in, but Montgomery County MD (MCPL) has a really nice collection of books and audio through Hoopla.

Thanks! I'll add Montgomery County to my Hoopla list.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The website says it requires in-person registration. How did they get the cards?

I don't know, people keep reporting they are getting them, even if they are not in Florida or applying in person, at least according to that reddit thread. They do seem to have an e-card option also, so the rules may vary. I can finally get the main library site to open through some links, but if you try to apply for a card, it will not load for me.

The website is still down, trying to load again now :/

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by JBaby

You are correct. However, it seems like everyone has a card with them because Broward doesn’t verify registration. These people are just putting in random Fort Lauderdale addresses. People do the same thing with the Chicago Public Library. I think it’s totally unethical, but I also think these libraries should have some checks and balances if they don’t want people doing this.

I think to some extent they don't care, because libraries want more people reading and it's going to be a fairly small number of people who will cheat to get access. Tennessee's R.E.A.D.S. doesn't do much checking either. My library doesn't have any kind of Internet presence, and R.E.A.D.S. doesn't even check to see if your name matches the card number. It's basically an honor system.

Personally, while I wouldn't do it, I don't mind it too much because I think it's great people want to read more books that badly. I suspect most of the ones that do cheat can't afford to buy a lot of books themselves, or they wouldn't do this.