Overdrive new selection going downhill

[Asawi]

I am a member of Free Library Philadelphia. While they, IMHO, have an overall good selection very few of the titles added the last few months have interested me.
I do accept that even if they are of close to zero interest to me, others think differently.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Bear 100

I guess I will have to be patient, but my question is to those more knowledgeable are the libraries increasing their commitment to e-books in general? I just saw a study on CNN that 19% of adults have e-readers. While many will by their content, I would think demand at the libraries must be growing?

Demand is definitely growing with both the increase in ereader ownership over the holidays and the prior inclusion of Kindles into library lending. Waiting times have skyrocketed at many libraries as more and more people discover the availability of ebooks.

Check this thread out to see how libraries are increasing their ebook collections.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by Bear 100

I am new to all this, got my first e-reader this Christmas. I hoped to use my local library which is promoting e-books. I found out that the selection is very limited. I also have a Phoenix AZ library card, while the selection is better, is still is not great.
I guess I will have to be patient, but my question is to those more knowledgeable are the libraries increasing their commitment to e-books in general? I just saw a study on CNN that 19% of adults have e-readers. While many will by their content, I would think demand at the libraries must be growing?

Phoenix has one of the largest and best e-libraries in the US. I think what you are discovering reiterates the point of this thread that the latest additions are going downhill. Too many publishers are choosing not to add new or front-list titles. My recommendation is to take a different approach to your searches. Seek out some of your favorite authors to see what's available or books more than a year old that you've been meaning to read. Try also searching through their genre sections. Lucky for me I've been using my e-library since 2009 and have built a long wishlist so it is easier to find the older gems amongst the clutter of the new books. I recommend you also start wishlist. Good luck!

[elemenoP]

Yes, Bear, the LIBRARIES are increasing their commitment, but the PUBLISHERS are mostly decreasing their commitment. The publisher can make it impossible for libraries to buy and loan out their ebooks, and several are doing just that.

eP

[VeggieCat]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I recommend you also start wishlist.

Ditto this. The wish list is very useful when you want to find something to read quick that you know has already captured your interest.

The downside to this is you may end up like me and have a huge wish list with no chance of it ever getting smaller because you add items to it faster than you delete them because you've read them

No...wait...can't...mustn't...click "add to wishlist" button........have...too much...already...

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Has anyone else noticed that the selection of new eBooks via Overdrive from the library has been going downhill fast?

Not really, but then, I tend to search by subject rather than what's new.

I definitely have noticed the new book shelves at my physical public library having the same titles every time I go. And yet they have the money for two of the six libraries in our system to be currently closed for expansion construction. I was thinking of putting an angry-face emoticon here, but I guess it is much easier to raise money for construction than book purchases.

I'm seeing desperate purchases like Feng Sui for your Workplace for Dummies type of garbage.

Thanks for reminding me to check to see if there's a new title out for one of my favorites, the Feng Shui Detective series. Sadly, author Nury Vittachi has gone almost four years without a new one.

search.overdrive.com does show every title in the series is available in public libraries somewhere, although rarely in the US.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by VeggieCat

The downside to this is you may end up like me and have a huge wish list with no chance of it ever getting smaller because you add items to it faster than you delete them because you've read them

Amen. I have about 150 titles on my Chicago Public library wishlist. I check the new titles about once a week, and always end up adding a few.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by VeggieCat

Ditto this. The wish list is very useful when you want to find something to read quick that you know has already captured your interest.

The downside to this is you may end up like me and have a huge wish list with no chance of it ever getting smaller because you add items to it faster than you delete them because you've read them

No...wait...can't...mustn't...click "add to wishlist" button........have...too much...already...

Also, I don't know about other overdrive sites, but I have a long wishlist and it takes about 3 minutes to delete one item, but about 1 second to add one.

[CazMar]

There doesn't seem to be much except very light-weight fiction, detective stories, romance etc. I don't mind a few detective or adventure stories for reading to relax, but where are the books about history, ideas, science? Even if they only released books from the back catalogue this would give some more depth to the books available.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I read a lot of science, history, biographies and business books. My library has a rather large selection of non-fiction books. I recommend everyone visit the Overdrive website to see what titles are available in their catalog and then make a request to your library. I'm sure your library is focusing on what they think their patrons want and that light-detective and romance genre is popular.

[AJ Starr]

This article was on my homepage news:

http://my.earthlink.net/article/ent?...c-b12a55431c53

New library e-catalogs offer expanded selection

NEW YORK (AP) — Library users searching for e-books will soon get to look through a much bigger catalog and help decide what their local branch might carry.
OverDrive Inc., a major e-distributor for libraries, announced Wednesday the launch of a vastly expanded list for patrons, featuring not just e-books available for lending, but hundreds of thousands of those which include a collected of Edgar Allan Poe stories edited by Michael Connelly to foreign-language titles. Viewers can look at excerpts, purchase books from a retailer or request that their library add an e-book that wasn't being offered.

...

HarperCollins, which has restricted lending of its e-books, is participating, but not Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and other publishers who don't offer downloads to libraries, citing concerns about lost sales. Potash said he did not intend any criticism, but added that he was a "little bit discouraged that publishers who have built some of their biggest successes around book clubs and word of mouth were underappreciating the value" of the library market.

Looks like Overdrive is trying to satisfy us.

[SeaBookGuy]

Foreign language titles would be terrific!

[Joykins]

I read that articles and it makes it sound like you'll be able to search hundreds of thousands of books that your library doesn't have. Am I the only one seeing a drawback to this? When I search my library I'm interested in books I can check out right away or put on hold.

[SeaBookGuy]

If you know the books exist in the Overdrive master catalogue, you can suggest a purchase -- that's a huge plus!

[rdfry]

I have gone back to reading the DTB version of a lot of the new releases because of nonsense from the big six publishers and I have access to a lot of libraries.