OverDrive Tip: Saving Books for Later

When it comes to holds, does it seem like all of your eBooks or audiobooks become available all at once? This happens to me all of the time. I find a few audiobooks I want to listen to, but they are currently checked out to someone else, so I place holds. Then a few days later, I receive several email notifications that all of them are ready for me to check out. Five audiobooks in three weeks for me is not happening. But it doesn't have to be this way. Our eBook and digital audiobook provider, OverDrive offers a few tools for me to manage my reading much better than just placing holds. I can save books for later.

The Wish List

The first option is using the wish list. Rather than placing holds on everything, I can just add the titles to a list. Underneath the large, red "Borrow" or "Place Hold" b utton is this small, tiny, gray "Add to Wish List" option. If you click on that, the book is added to your "Wish List".  There are no limits on the amount of items you can have on your wish list, you can add or delete items at any time, and best of all, you can filter the list to only see the items that are available right now. You'll find your wish list in your OverDrive account at overdrive.icpl.org.

Suspending a Hold

So maybe you want to keep a hold, you are just not ready for the book right now. This is a great option if you've made it to the top of a long waiting list, but are in the middle of something else and don't want to lose your place. You've waited so long! If you "suspend a hold," you can pick a window of time (7, 14, 21, 28, 60, or 90 days) where you'll keep your place in line for the book, but won't actually get the book until the time period is over or you remove the suspension. During the suspension, it goes to the next user in line. This option can be found on your holds list in your OverDrive account at overdrive.icpl.org.

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