How to Borrow eBooks and Audiobooks from the Library

Downloading ebooks* and audiobooks**  from the library is free and fairly simple.

*electronic books you can read on ereaders (a "Kindle" is an ereader). If you want to make sure your device is compatible, here's a list.

**recorded books you can listen to on mp3 players

This explanation will only apply if your system subscribes to "Overdrive." Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma County libraries subscribe to Overdrive, but not all other county libraries do. In order to find out if yours does, just go to this Overdrive website** and search for your library. If it does, your steps will line up with this explanation by Step Five*, assuming you have already taken care of Step One, which is to get a library card.

*I marked Step Five below.

**If you go to step five, you can see a picture of what the Overdrive Website looks like.

Let's Begin.

First, get a library card, if you don't have one.

Then Google "Lake County Library Catalogue" (Or "Mendocino County Library Catalogue," or "Sonoma County Library Catalogue") to find the county's library page. The Lake County page should look like this:



MC should look like this. SC should look like this.

Click "Search the Catalogue." All resulting pages should look like this.



Click "Downloads," the fifth option on the green searchbar.

(Step Five) This will bring you to the Overdrive Website:

 

Since the book cover photos change, I circled the "Downloadable Library" text in the photo below as an identifying marker:

On the top right hand corner of the page should be a link labeled "sign in." Click it.

Choose your county (it will give you the options of Lake, Mendocino or Sonoma). It will ask you for your library card number and pin. The pin is simply the last four digits of the phone number you gave the library to get your card.

Pick a book. If you search for a title, Overdrive will indicate which formats the book comes in: ebook, audiobook, both or neither. The site is fairly use-friendly, but if you have any difficulty navigating it, here's a great tutorial video.

For an ebook, you're nearly golden. After your select your book, click "Borrow." You will also need to select the format of the ebook. You can read it on your computer screen (as the tutorial video demonstrates), but I think the Kindle ebook format is the best. The latter will lead you to a webpage on Amazon where you simply click "Get Library Book" and indicate where it should be delivered (e. g. "Christy's Kindle").

To get an audiobook, you will need to download the "Overdrive Media Console" software, which is free and easy to use once you make it past your computer's protection software. (Some computer protection software can give you problems, but Overdrive has a wonderful help service to answer those and any other questions. I've used it several times on new computers.) Once you do that, you can download the book to your computer via the Console. Then you plug your ipod or mp3 player into your computer and transfer the book to it.

And no late fees! Audiobooks and ebooks automatically disappear when they are due.

I salute you on your bookish journey, Book Bandit.

Photo Attribution:
By Calebrw (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons