eAudiobook Update

Submitted by Jeff Fisher

The last several fiscal years the Library subscribed to adult and teen fiction collections of eAudiobook titles through RBDigital.  These eAudiobook collections were simultaneous use, allowing multiple patrons to access these titles at any one time, with no holds list.  During the spring of 2021, these eAudiobook collections were moved into OverDrive/LIBBY, along with the Library's other eAudiobook holdings.

OverDrive has honored our subscription to these collections for the Library's full access term, which ends on June 30 2021.  These particular eAudiobook titles will be removed from our OverDrive collection on July 1.  OverDrive has indicated they will not be offering these same subscriptions for Libraries going forward.  The simultaneous use collections available in OverDrive are publisher specific and smaller in scope than those that were offered by RBDigital.

Copies of many of the popular titles in these collections are owned as traditional eAudiobook copies by the Library and will not disappear.  Usage of the titles in these collections has been evaluated and copies of popular titles not already owned as a traditional eAudiobook will be purchased.  As a result, many of these titles will not disappear from the collection, but will not have simultaneous usage associated with them.  

Patrons who have checked out and downloaded any simultaneous use eAudiobook item prior to June 30 will be allowed to finish the full two weeks with the eAudiobook.  Patrons who check out an eAudiobook simultaneous use title but do not download it will see their access interrupted at the end of the day on June 30.  

The nature of eMaterials lending continues to change and new lending models are frequently introduced.  The Library will continue to stay on top of these changes in order to provide a robust eBook and eAudiobook collection to FCPL patrons.