Since I work in Dearborn and have a Dearborn library card, for the past two years, I have been checking out eBooks from the Dearborn Public Library for FREE using my smartphone and the OverDrive app.
OverDrive (http://www.overdrive.com/) is the leading global distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, and digital content to libraries and schools. And in 2011, they released their mobile apps which enable users to download library eBooks and audiobooks directly to their mobile devices.
The FREE Overdrive apps include a “Get Books” feature that guides you to your local library’s digital catalog and allows you to browse, check out, and download with just your mobile device.
More than 13,000 public libraries, schools, colleges, and universities offer eBook and audiobook downloads via OverDrive, including institutions in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and nine other countries. And now you can use OverDrive to check-out ebooks and audiobooks from the the Detroit Public Library.
Other local Detroit area cities that are also part of OverDrive include Albion, Ann Arbor, Brandon Township, Capital Area, Chesterfield, Dearborn, Fremont, Grand Ledge Area, Groose Pointe, Hastings, Herrick, Howell, Kalamazoo, Kent, Loutit, Orion, Plymouth, Portage, Royal Oak, Salem-South Lyon, Spring Lake, Sterling Heights, Troy, Warren and Willard.
To see if you can use OverDrive with your local library eBooks, visit search.overdrive.com.
OverDrive’s apps for iPhone/iPod//iPad, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 give users wireless access to a library’s ePUB, Kindle and MP3 audiobook catalog without the need for a PC. With the apps, users can create bookmarks and resume from the last point read for ePub ebooks. For Kindle books, the app allows you to check-out the book and then sends you an email with a link that you use to access the Kindle book using your Amazon account and the Kindle app on your mobile device.
The eBook titles automatically expire in the app, so there is never a late fee. And if the title you want is not available because it has been checked out by someone else, the app allows you to put yourself on the wait list and emails you when the title is available.
I love using the new Overdrive app and it really makes checking out eBooks very easy. The software allows me to sign-in to the download center using my Detroit Public Library card and password, add eBooks to my account, and then download them to my smartphone or iPad. This week, I checked out a Kindle ebook by my favorite romance writer, Brenda Jackson, and I was reading the novel within minutes after check-out.
Click here for more information and to download the FREE OverDrive Media Console app.
Click here to find out more about checking out eBooks using OverDrive with the Detroit Public Library
Enjoy!
