Does anyone offer ebooks in their church library? I would like to do this, but have no idea where to start. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
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Thank you to all who responded to my question. I'm glad to hear that progress is being made to make eBooks affordable to small church libraries. Unfortunately for our church library here, it’s still not quite attainable.
Thanks again to everyone who responded. And especially for Glenn who worked with Overdrive to make eBooks a little more affordable to church libraries. I hope that the “trial church library consortium” will end up being permanent and offered all over the country!
First, for a number of reasons, I agree: Overdrive is the most practical eBook service for church libraries wanting to check out copyrighted eBooks and MP3 audio books.
Overdrive has long provided arrangements for small, special libraries, as has been noted here. The costs, however, are prohibitive to most church libraries. We were hoping that Overdrive would consider allowing us to create a group of churches (a "consortium") to share the costs as they have done with school districts and community libraries.
To our delight, Overdrive has just now committed to a "trial" church library consortium. The process is in its early stages, so our experience is limited. We do know this about the trial:
** The church group will include Baptist churches in two Texas counties, Dallas and Rockwall.
** 2/3 of the annual cost will go to purchasing titles for the "consortium" collection. Each library in the group will be able select and purchase titles proportional to its annual fee.
** The "consortium" collection titles are equally available to each library's patrons. (Consider this remarkable value: pay for, say, 60 titles yet have access to 700! ... and that's just the first year!)
** The "consortium" will coordinate such things as loan terms and, very important, avoiding too many duplicate titles.
** The annual pricing is based on tiers of church enrollment. (I'm pretty sure the Annual Church Profile will be the reference.) Here are some of the tiers Overdrive has proposed:
0 to 1000 members: $ 750/yr
1001 to 3000 members: $1500/yr
3001 to 6000 members: $3000/yr
6001 to 10000 members: $4500/yr
[Need I say, these prices are subject to change. They do reflect the current contract, though.]
As you can see, this service is not cheap, but, I feel, it is attainable. I am pleased that Overdrive has been so gracious. Honestly, this is a remarkable arrangement for churches!
As for other church libraries in other areas, Overdrive has assured us it is planning to expand after it has had some actual "church consortium" experience.
Is there a web site or two that you'd recommend for us to learn the details and options for lending ebooks? There is so much that I don't know, and I need to get moving on this whole issue now, as we have many teens and adults who are savvy with technology here in southern California, and our pastors want to know what we can do for them in our library.
I'm sorry, I don't know of any websites that provide a good tutorial on the topic of eBooks. I would suggest, as Buford Carter did earlier in this thread, that you spend some time at the Overdrive site (overdrive.com).
Also, there is an "eBook Update" article in the "Articles of Interest" section on the CLN homepage. It includes the most current information about the work with Overdrive and a few suggestions for getting your library ready.
For some of our workshops we assembled a Q&A eBook brochure. I would be glad to send you a PDF if you (or anyone else) want to contact me direct (glenn@libraryconcepts.com).
Glenn and all, my husband and I were discussing all of this the other day while I was dreaming about it. LOL. I ran up against a possible concern and wonder if you could address it or give your thoughts.
My understanding of Overdrive is that they create a website to mimic yours so that it looks and feels like what your patrons are used to. Some selections in a public library, and I assume on Overdrive, are not God-honoring. The way they have this set up means that our patrons could go to our church website, click on Overdrive to access their database, and then select items for download that I personally would not want our church connected to. Is there any concern about the appearance of impropriety if we can't control what people are accessing through the site?
Here is how Overdrive will structure the web pages. They will create a page for each church that links to your consortium's collection, thankfully, not the entire Overdrive catalog. As Lynda Herrinton noted earlier, your church members will only see and be allowed to check out titles from your consortium's collection. You can put that link on your library page.
For additional control, I would also suggest "cataloging" each consortium TITLE into your library catalog. Add the Overdrive title link (a unique link for each title...provided by Overdrive) into your library software's data record. Assuming your catalog is available on the web, your members will have a direct link to each title's check out page.
1) We are open to the public. Would we still be able to provide ebooks to the patrons who have a church home elsewhere or have no church home, or would we be limited to offering this only to folks on our rolls because of the pricing tiers.
2) If a title is in the consortium collection, is there a limit on how many people can have it checked out at one time? If it is a high-demand title (and let's say there are 6 members of the consortium) could we have 6 - or more - of the same title to increase the number of people who could have that title at one time?
Deanna King > Glenn McEowenNovember 28, 2011 16:33
Glenn, I am wondering at what point it would be useful to contact Overdrive to propose doing a consortium here in Southern California (or other areas of the US).
Should we give them a few months to figure out the Texas situation, or is it a good idea to notify them of our interest here as soon as possible?
Do you have any suggestions for us?
Deanna King > Glenn McEowenNovember 18, 2011 17:38
More very helpful information and advice, Glenn. Thanks so much for helping us all with this!
I talked to Overdrive a week or two ago and my understanding is that your patrons can only download the books you have chosen and bought for your library. Those will be the only ones accessible to your patrons.
Replies
Thank you to all who responded to my question. I'm glad to hear that progress is being made to make eBooks affordable to small church libraries. Unfortunately for our church library here, it’s still not quite attainable.
Thanks again to everyone who responded. And especially for Glenn who worked with Overdrive to make eBooks a little more affordable to church libraries. I hope that the “trial church library consortium” will end up being permanent and offered all over the country!
Overdrive has long provided arrangements for small, special libraries, as has been noted here. The costs, however, are prohibitive to most church libraries. We were hoping that Overdrive would consider allowing us to create a group of churches (a "consortium") to share the costs as they have done with school districts and community libraries.
To our delight, Overdrive has just now committed to a "trial" church library consortium. The process is in its early stages, so our experience is limited. We do know this about the trial:
** The church group will include Baptist churches in two Texas counties, Dallas and Rockwall.
** 2/3 of the annual cost will go to purchasing titles for the "consortium" collection. Each library in the group will be able select and purchase titles proportional to its annual fee.
** The "consortium" collection titles are equally available to each library's patrons. (Consider this remarkable value: pay for, say, 60 titles yet have access to 700! ... and that's just the first year!)
** The "consortium" will coordinate such things as loan terms and, very important, avoiding too many duplicate titles.
** The annual pricing is based on tiers of church enrollment. (I'm pretty sure the Annual Church Profile will be the reference.) Here are some of the tiers Overdrive has proposed:
0 to 1000 members: $ 750/yr
1001 to 3000 members: $1500/yr
3001 to 6000 members: $3000/yr
6001 to 10000 members: $4500/yr
[Need I say, these prices are subject to change. They do reflect the current contract, though.]
As you can see, this service is not cheap, but, I feel, it is attainable. I am pleased that Overdrive has been so gracious. Honestly, this is a remarkable arrangement for churches!
As for other church libraries in other areas, Overdrive has assured us it is planning to expand after it has had some actual "church consortium" experience.
Yes, thanks so much, Glenn, for your work!
Is there a web site or two that you'd recommend for us to learn the details and options for lending ebooks? There is so much that I don't know, and I need to get moving on this whole issue now, as we have many teens and adults who are savvy with technology here in southern California, and our pastors want to know what we can do for them in our library.
Thanks for your help,
Deanna King
Santa Clarita, CA
I'm sorry, I don't know of any websites that provide a good tutorial on the topic of eBooks. I would suggest, as Buford Carter did earlier in this thread, that you spend some time at the Overdrive site (overdrive.com).
Also, there is an "eBook Update" article in the "Articles of Interest" section on the CLN homepage. It includes the most current information about the work with Overdrive and a few suggestions for getting your library ready.
For some of our workshops we assembled a Q&A eBook brochure. I would be glad to send you a PDF if you (or anyone else) want to contact me direct (glenn@libraryconcepts.com).
Glenn and all, my husband and I were discussing all of this the other day while I was dreaming about it. LOL. I ran up against a possible concern and wonder if you could address it or give your thoughts.
My understanding of Overdrive is that they create a website to mimic yours so that it looks and feels like what your patrons are used to. Some selections in a public library, and I assume on Overdrive, are not God-honoring. The way they have this set up means that our patrons could go to our church website, click on Overdrive to access their database, and then select items for download that I personally would not want our church connected to. Is there any concern about the appearance of impropriety if we can't control what people are accessing through the site?
Here is how Overdrive will structure the web pages. They will create a page for each church that links to your consortium's collection, thankfully, not the entire Overdrive catalog. As Lynda Herrinton noted earlier, your church members will only see and be allowed to check out titles from your consortium's collection. You can put that link on your library page.
For additional control, I would also suggest "cataloging" each consortium TITLE into your library catalog. Add the Overdrive title link (a unique link for each title...provided by Overdrive) into your library software's data record. Assuming your catalog is available on the web, your members will have a direct link to each title's check out page.
Glenn, another couple of thoughts.
1) We are open to the public. Would we still be able to provide ebooks to the patrons who have a church home elsewhere or have no church home, or would we be limited to offering this only to folks on our rolls because of the pricing tiers.
2) If a title is in the consortium collection, is there a limit on how many people can have it checked out at one time? If it is a high-demand title (and let's say there are 6 members of the consortium) could we have 6 - or more - of the same title to increase the number of people who could have that title at one time?
Glenn, I am wondering at what point it would be useful to contact Overdrive to propose doing a consortium here in Southern California (or other areas of the US).
Should we give them a few months to figure out the Texas situation, or is it a good idea to notify them of our interest here as soon as possible?
Do you have any suggestions for us?
More very helpful information and advice, Glenn. Thanks so much for helping us all with this!
I talked to Overdrive a week or two ago and my understanding is that your patrons can only download the books you have chosen and bought for your library. Those will be the only ones accessible to your patrons.
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