By Victoria Durgin, Asst. Digital Media Editor
Susquehanna students and staff now have access to thousands of audiobooks and ebooks. The access is thanks to a new partnership between the Blough-Weis Library and the Snyder County Library System.
Librarian Ryan Ake and Director of Blough-Weis Library Katherine Furlong reached out to the Snyder County Libraries (SCL) to initiate the partnership.
“We try to look for any opportunities we can with local libraries,” Ake said.
According to MySU, the new partnership allows students, faculty and staff to access the regional OverDrive service.
The collection, officially known as the eBranch2Go OverDrive collection, is accessible through a website and an app.
The app, called “Libby,” is available in all mobile app stores. The website can be accessed through MySU or by searching eBranch2go in any web browser.
According to Snyder County Libraries Executive Director Pam Ross, this program was attempted in the past but without the Libby app, it was difficult to market to Susquehanna students.
Ake said the app was one of the most enticing things about the software.
“OverDrive wasn’t really user-friendly, but we have found Libby to be so much more accessible,” Ake said.
To access the collection students and staff must select the Snyder County Library System and enter their 14-digit ID number found on the back of their ID. Users can borrow up to five audiobooks or ebooks at a time, according to the website.
Because the site only allows a set number of users to loan each title at any given point, users can also put up to five titles on hold. When they become available, OneDrive emails the users with that title on hold.
According to Ake the collaboration between the Blough-Weis Library and SCL allows the library to buy additional copies of titles if students find that what they are searching for is not available.
The Blough-Weis Library pays $800 per calendar year so the SCL can buy more titles that would be of interest to Susquehanna students, according to Ross.
Any title can either be downloaded to the Libby app, downloaded to a device, read on a web browser without being downloaded or sent to a device with the Amazon Kindle app installed.
The standard borrowing time for a book is two weeks. Titles can be renewed through the app or site for an additional amount of time within three days of the loan’s expiration.
Borrowed books will be automatically returned at the end of two weeks if the user does not renew the title, according to the site.
SCL exclusively partners within the Selinsgrove Area School District and also does a lot of work with Susquehanna, according to Ross.
Ross gave a few examples including the SCL having Susquehanna work study students and hosting the Susquehanna Presidential Scholar Speaker at the Gelnett Library.
“We consider SU students to be Snyder County people with access to our libraries,” Ross said.
The collection includes 10,000 titles from many genres and for multiple age groups, including young adult and juvenile fiction and nonfiction.
The new e-book collection offers many newly-released novels in genres the library displays as “leisure reading.”
Ake said the library wanted to expand its offering of non-academic materials.
“We really like the opportunity to expand our leisure collection, which is the one in the front of the library,” Ake said, also noting the OverDrive collection is the first collection of non-academic online materials available to students and staff.
Ake said he and the other librarians understand students are busy but still hope they take breaks when they can.
Ake also said they are excited about the partnership because the collection will be available to students over the summer as well.
“The collection goes where you go,” Ake said.