Libby App - A Tutorial (2 of 2)

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel.  Today is the second in a two part series about the app that my public library uses to access digital books and audiobooks -- the Libby App. 

In my first video, I talked about the pros and cons of using the Libby app to check out digital and audiobooks from the library.  For me the positives obviously far outweigh the negatives, since I use this app all of the time.  So, now let me show you around.

So, my public library has a partnership with Overdrive, which is a distributor for digital resources like eBooks and audiobooks.  Their Libby app allows library patrons to check out these resources using their library credentials.  I'm going to show you the iPhone version of Libby, but they also make versions for Android and the iPad.  

Once you download Libby, you'll need to sign in using your library card.  It will take you through a series of intro screens to link your account using your library card.  You can copy your information from another device, search for your library, or have Libby guess your library based on your location.  Once you have your library account linked, it'll take you to your library's home page -- in my case, Fairfax County Library.  There are 4 different areas of the Libby app, the Library section (which is where you are now), Your Shelf, which takes you to holds and checked out items, this little Libby icon in the center, which takes you to what you are currently reading in the app, and the menu, which you can get to by hitting the Libby icon in the upper right hand corner.  So, let's start with the 

Library

So, this is how you are going to find eBooks and audiobooks to check out.  There are two ways to find books -- you can search for a book title up here or you can browse.  Libby presents you with some options, gives you some links to new, popular or available books, or it let's you browse by subject.  Up here you can enter the preferences to use for searching.  You can specify format (books or audiobooks), language, audience, compatibility (I prefer Kindle books), availability (meaning you can limit your search to only books that are available to be checked out now) and how the search findings are sorted.  For example, if I go into Explore and look for books under the Mystery and Thriller category, I can see that most of these books are not available to be checked out today.  Instead, I would have to put a hold on them.  I can see that by hitting the 3 dots to the right of the book.  I can put myself on the waiting list for this book by hitting Place Hold and then Place Hold again.  This screen tells me that I have 3 of 10 books already checked out and 4 of 10 books on hold.  10 is the maximum for each.  If I want to find a book to read right now, I can change my preferences to Availibility -- Available Now.  Now it only brings up books that I can check out today.  To do that, hit the 3 dots, then Borrow and Borrow again.  So, that is how you find a book or audiobook and check it out or put a hold on it.  Easy.  The other thing you can do here is apply a tag.  Go back into the 3 dots and this time hit Tag.  So, you can pick one of these default tags, which look like book list, thumbs up and thumbs down, or you can make your own tag using text or emojis.  Okay -- now let's go to your

Shelf

This area shows your loans, your holds, and your tags.  Loans are the books you currently have checked out.  It tells you how much time you have until the book is due, whether it is downloaded to the Libby app, and how many people are waiting for it.  Your holds show you the books you have on hold.  It gives you an approximate amount of time that you still need to wait, allows you to read a sample, and gives you a way to manage your hold.  In this screen you can see when you placed the hold, and can cancel or suspend the hold.  And finally, your Tags show you any books that you've applied a tag to in the Library section, which is a nice way to organize your books to read or rate the ones you've already read. 

Current Book

Digital Book - As I said, you can choose whether to read your books within the Libby app or on a Kindle.  It appears that whatever choice you make will apply to all of the books that you've checked out.  If you choose to read them within the Libby app, you can get to your book by hitting Open in Libby.  To get back to it, the book's icon will appear down here and you can just hit that to start reading again.  If you want to read your books in a Kindle, hit Open in Libby, then back, then change choice and choose Kindle instead.  Now it'll take you to an amazon page to claim your library book and send it to your Kindle.  It will appear automatically in your Kindle's cloud.

Audiobook - With audiobooks, you don't have a choice about where to listen to it -- you have to listen to it from within your Libby app.  You can open the audiobook and it'll replace the current book down here.  Also, you can choose to stream or download the audio files.  While listening, you can change the speaking speed, set a sleep timer if you want to pause for 30 minutes, apply a bookmark, and navigate either by chapter or by sliding this bar.  Also tapping in the center of the app gives you 15 second rewind and forward capabilities.  Plus you can swipe to quickly rewind and quickly fast forward.  And finally, the 

Settings Menu

gives you access to some Libby tips, your library cards and account, setting up Libby, and a support area.  Setting up Libby gives you the ability to change what kind of books you download automatically and whether you can do it only on wifi.  Under Settings, Set up Libby, Manage Hold Notices, you can change the email were hold notices are sent and determine whether books are automatically checked out for you.  

And that is it!  I use this app all. the. time to check out digital books, put books on hold, and listen to audiobooks.  Let me know what you think!  Comments are always appreciated and thanks for watching!