I go through a good number of books in a year, and a significant number of them audio. I wouldn’t be able to buy groceries while supporting this habit if I hadn’t stumbled upon the e-lending option at the public library. As I also recently discovered two avid reader friends were ignorant of this service, I want to dedicate a post to the process. It is both easy and wonderful.
| 1. Get a library card. I know not everyone has one—how can you not have one?!—but it is worth whatever hassle it is to get down to the library to apply. 2. Download the Overdrive app onto your phone and make an account. 3. Add your library. 4. Oh, wait. You’re done. |  |
Now you can make wish lists, put ebooks and audiobooks on hold, and read/listen to your heart’s content. You can even request items to be purchased that aren’t available. I typically have my phone on hand, so listening to a book while I clean or drive is cake.
 | Want to know my favorite trick? My mom has a library account in Colorado. She lets me share her e-account. I also have my current California library, and I still have my military Europe account. So I have MULTIPLE library districts I can search for whatever material of the moment I need. I can switch between the libraries easily on the app and all the content will go to the “bookshelf” on my phone. |
I use Overdrive for my family too. My husband usually reads boring (translation: non-fiction) books, but he is currently on a fiction kick with the Master and Commander series. Edward was both buying and tearing through them until I mentioned how I could get them for free. He doesn’t even have to do anything. I just check them out and, as I use Amazon, I choose which device in which to send the loan.
| Clare rips through books. I have an ancient first generation kindle that I used once upon a time that is now hers. I send Warriors books, the Princess Academy series, Magic Tree House, you name it, right to her Kindle. She loves having the next three books she wants all ready to go. I love the shiny pennies I save, but I really love how this is blazing awake her love for reading. She reaches for a book when she has a spare moment. |  |
No e-reader? One can still get the Kindle app on any smart phone and read right there. I’ve burned through books that way. I prefer a bigger screen, but as I’ve said before—I carry my phone with me. So it’s an easy way to read at the doctor’s office instead of throwing my time to the birds by scrolling through Facebook.
Gosh, I love the public library.
And as my step-dad says, “If it's free, it’s for me.”
And as my step-dad says, “If it's free, it’s for me.”
Image taken from Huffingtonpost.com
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