ACCESSING THE LIBRARY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT 
Overdrive Library resources are online 24/7. Some of the libraries were ready for the Kindle this morning, but others had not been able to change their system processes yet, and Overdrive has said it'll take a few days to get all libraries in place.
In fact, their list of compatible devices this afternoon did not include the Kindle although it did yesterday -- but there was an error in the information seen yesterday, so they're probably just correcting the pages. Getting 11,000~ libraries into place with the new sync'g systems at the same time has to be a daunting task.
On the SOFTWARE page, Overdrive does mention the Kindle now:
"Kindle compatability...requires Kindle device or Kindle reading apps developed by Amazon."
To find libraries that are partners in the OverDrive network, visit search.overdrive.com which shows you a center TAB for "Library Search" right next to the default Title search.
I still find that the "Classic" Overdrive Library-search (shown at top-left) is clearer as a dedicated search page.
Overdrive is said to be adding Kindle compatability to all of U.S. public and school libraries in its network, and all sites should be updated "within days."
They add that "most eBooks already in a library's catalog are compatible with Kindle (Amazon does have more contemporary titles than most online stores). Browse or search for "Kindle Book," check out a title, and then click "Get for Kindle."
LIBRARY EBOOK COLLECTIONS - QUALITY AND NUMBER OF BOOKS
The quality of e-book collections in public libraries varies quite a bit. In the past, those accessing libraries via other e-Readers find that some either don't have many books they want or that the books they want are so in demand, they need to wait for months. I'm seeing better experiences reported today, but those doing it this week are not encountering the same kind of competition they will, for the e-books, until all the libraries are ready and millions of Kindlers slowly learn about the new Kindle feature.
LIBRARY MEMBERSHIP
If there are no libraries with Overdrive in your area or the book collections are not as delicious as you'd like, you can become non-resident members of other libraries. Here's a good listing of EBook Lending Libraries at Mobileread's Wiki area.
Scroll down to the Limited Access USA section, which lists digital library collections by state, "many" of them hosted by Overdrive. They mention some with "Non-Resident fees and the cost involved.
When I did a Find on the page for "non-res," results indicated that you have to show up once in person even for non-resident cards.
Those not mentioning "in person" requirement are: Florida's Orange County Library System offers one for $125/yr (yikes); Nevada's Reno - Washoe County, for $50/yr, and Pennsylvania's Free Library of Philadelphia, which offers a library card for out-of-state-residents for $35/year (libwww.freelibrary.org/register/getcard1.cfm ). No in-person visit required in Philadelphia.
Their collection, in July, had 4,844 ePub and 1,103 PDF rights-protected e-books. Under Overdrive, these will be offered in Kindle format if Amazon has the book.
One experience reported by a forum member (KDD) with a deeper background in this:
"I just did this from our library's Overdrive site and it worked beautifully. Though I have a Kindle myself, as part of my job at the library I had to learn how to use both the Nook and the Kindle. Borrowing a book for my Kindle was soooo much easier than doing it for a Nook. Ready to start reading my first Kindle library book."
Daniel at the Amazon Kindle forums reported that the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has 12 copies of The Help with 148 people on the waiting list.
Some glitches have been reported in a few cases but that's no surprise on the first day of a major change in complex interconnected systems. There'll be changes made as they go. Already, it was announced that today the New York Public Library reduced its DEFAULT lending period from 21 days to 14 days.
Update - Island Librarian Nancy Picchi found that the reduction made was only to the "default" lending period and that, during checkout, borrowers can use the drop-down menu to change the loan period from the new default of 14 days to 21 days. That's a nice way to encourage faster return of e-books so that others don't have to wait as long.
See Island Librarian's excellent article today on A Snapshot of the Kindle eBook Collection of Four Public Libraries.
UPDATE2 - At the forums, Mean Mr. Mustard wrote an intriguing set of numbers:
' Interesting. In Salt Lake County Libraries, it shows 13,522 Kindle books, and 10,767 Adobe eBooks. '
Successful downloading and synching last-page-read for a Kindle book was reported by someone using an iPhone.
Some have already complained they see ads for other books while checking out. However, Amazon is a business, not a non-profit agency, and they've a responsibility to shareholders too. On the new Nook Touch, half of the Home screen of the device itself is reserved for showing books that the Nook owner might enjoy. These companies have to think about the bottom line while offering features that are much requested by us.
UPDATE3 - TIP: for those with No WiFi access and you want the book sent to your Kindle (especially older Kindles) ... At some point after Overdrive has done the checkout and you're redirected to Amazon, you're asked where you'd like the loaned book sent. With no WiFi capability, you'd ignore the Send to Kindle option and you'd choose TO download the book to your computer in order to do a USB cable transfer from the computer to your Kindle.
You can just use the usb cable that is part of your Amazon power cord, to transfer the file to your Kindle device.
Be sure that it goes under the *"documents"* folder of the Kindle.
Quicker Method
If you can choose where your downloads go on your computer: With your Kindle attached through the USB connection and given the usual assigned drive letter ( like "f:" )...
(the drive letter is just an example here) If Kindle is assigned f:, then you would download the book to f:\documents... That's all it would take. But be sure the book is placed into the 'documents' folder of the Kindle.)
PHOTO GUIDE TO LIBRARY CHECKOUT
Thanks to Island Librarian Nancy Picchi's alert, here's a link to Seattle Times writer Brier Dudley's excellent set of screen images of the lending process - what you see when checking out a book.
For daily free ebooks, check the following links:
| Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by: Publication Date Late-listed Bestselling High-ratings UK: PubDate Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Battery Care Highly-rated under $1, | Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK): Top 100 free UK-Only: Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently): 99c Notepad 1.1, 99c Calculator, 99c Calendar, |
Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's) K3 Special ($114) K3-3G Special ($139) DX Graphite
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