Dive into the Collection (Day 5)

12 Days of OverDrive, Day 5: Dive into the Collection

What do we tell someone who is getting ready to "dive in" to the contents of the Digital Download Center collection?


What's included:
The collection currently contains about equal numbers of purchased audiobooks and ebook titles.
The number of ebook titles is bigger if you include the Project Gutenberg titles, which are always available.

The number of titles and copies available will grow when WPLC begins spending funds from a statewide $1 million buying pool.

Top 10 Subjects by Checkout: Fiction, Nonfiction, Romance, Suspense, Mystery, Literature, Thriller, Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, Biography & Autobiography. Requests for cookbooks, travel, computer, business, and history books are up.

Finding newly-added titles: The Digital Download Center website has the most up-to-date listing of titles in the collection. New titles are added in small batches in order to keep the new books displays fresh (this is because OverDrive websites automatically show the 100 newest books purchased in a new books display). Records for the new titles are also added to LINKcat in batches.

Requesting new titles: When possible, nearly every patron request is added. Suggestions can be made via the WPLC Support form. Some of the largest publishers refuse to license any digital books to libraries (such as Macmillan and Simon & Schuster), and other publishers may refuse to license select titles (like the Harry Potter series) to libraries. WPLC selectors also actively seek out best sellers and books in the ­eBook and audio formats that have long waiting lists for the print version.

Hold lists: The average waiting period for a hold is 19.06 days. Even if you hate to wait, be sure to look at the number of copies owned in addition to the number of people on the waiting list. A low holds-to-copies ratio means less waiting.



Project Gutenberg eBooks: Of the 15,000 Titles (unlimited copies), over 5,000 of them have been downloaded at least once since they were added to the collection in September 2010.
Statistics as of 12/6/11. Additional information compiled from: WPLC eBooks in Library Journal Article


-- Originally published on Tech Bits blog by Kerri Hilbelink, Library Technology Project Support Specialist for South Central Library System.