A few months ago, I told you about a major announcement by OverDrive and Amazon. Well, it’s here! If you own a Kindle, you probably got an email from Amazon about a week ago making this announcement; over that week, Kindle book capability began rolling out in OverDrive, which, we’re proud to say, included your very own Frisco Public Library! From our digital site, just click the “Now Available: Library eBooks for Kindle®” link on the left side (you may need to scroll down a bit to see it):
Here’s a brief rundown of what you need to know:
- Almost all of our current eBook collection is available for checkout on the Kindle. I say “almost” because there is a possibility that a very small number of books fall into the category of “books Amazon doesn’t have the rights to distribute.” We’re not really fans of large fines or jail time, and it doesn’t appear that Amazon is, either. They are currently working on getting the rights to these titles, and the number is very small, so hopefully this won’t even affect you. All of these titles will continue to be available on other devices.
- On our end, browsing, searching, and checking out titles should remain the same. After you check out a book for Kindle, you will be given a link to Amazon’s page to log in to your account, where you will choose the device or Kindle app you want the book delivered to and download the title. You can either download them directly via your Wi-Fi connection, or download them to your computer and transfer them via USB.
- Kindle books checked out from the library will work exactly like the ones you purchase from Amazon; they will just expire at the end of the lending period. Whispersync will still be available; you can highlight, make notes, and keep track of the last page you read. When the book checks back in, all your notes stay with you, so the next person won’t be able to see them (this is frowned upon in our print collection, BTW). Even better, if you check the book out again later (or if you buy it from Amazon), you’ll be able to see all your notes again!
Although we don’t have a tutorial for the Kindle yet (don’t worry, we’ll let you know as soon as we do), you may want to head over to our Downloads page to learn more about how eBooks and eReaders in general work at the library. And, of course, if you’ve got any questions, feel free to contact us. We’d be glad to help.
Happy Reading!
| Jake Gauslow |
| Adult Services Librarian | |
| jgauslow@friscotexas.gov |
