Monday, February 01, 2016

OverDrive Drive

(cc) Douglas Cootey
I'd like to get my book into my local Salt Lake County Library as well as other libraries. Since my book is carried by Overdrive—which most libraries support for ebook loans—I thought this would be easy. I've even thought of donating copies. Unfortunately, the only way to accomplish get the book listed with my library is to request a purchase. Meaning, I can't submit a copy to the library for their consideration as I could with a physical book. OK, I think. This isn't a problem. I'm an indy publisher and have been doing everything myself already, so I fired up the browser and got ready to type. That's when I realized I'd have to officially request a book purchase with my name and library card number for a book that I wrote. Suddenly, I felt very silly. While I was sitting there convincing myself that it was silly to feel silly, it occurred to me that other people might want this book in their library, too, but they wouldn't have any idea how to go about doing it.

Most libraries have a "request a purchase" link buried somewhere on their website. They aren't hidden necessarily, but they're often not easy to find either. I can't join every library in America in order to request a purchase of my own book, but if you are having difficulty finding that link for your own library, leave a comment below. I'll do my best to find it for you.

In the meantime, if you are interested in reading my book, live in Salt Lake Valley, but don't want to own my book, here is SLCoL's request form. Maybe you'll feel less silly filling it out than I would.