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fashionscholar t1_isorwqd wrote

I appreciate the fact that people are being able to utilize services that are not available to them locally, but when I see 12 weeks+ waits for books in Libby at my library (NYPL) I wonder if there’s a better way?

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SkinnySkins t1_isoske5 wrote

They've started to restrict non-residents in New York because of that.

If only there was a national consortium of digital libraries for smaller library districts though....

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Itsall_literal t1_istoxbi wrote

A national consortium of digital libraries would be dope! We have a consortium of digital resources held by academic libraries here in my province in Canada, it extends the resources available to the hundreds of thousands for students. It blows my mind thinking about it sometimes, but I'm a library nerd.

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SkinnySkins t1_istp2yr wrote

ikr! it would be like pulling teeth with publishers trying to get them not to fight it tooth and nail though :(

itll happen eventually, i hope at least

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Itsall_literal t1_istpjl3 wrote

Publisher's really are an issue. Unfortunately we haven't figured out a distribution process that has no bias. I honestly think libraries are capable of taking over publishing.

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Adorable-Ad-3223 OP t1_isqp3r1 wrote

Use Hoopla instead. No wait. The wait times aren't likely due to out of state users but rather to limited number of available licenses per copy and that some books are popular. If they have 1 copy/license and 3 people in line ahead of you it will be 12 weeks.

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fashionscholar t1_istiqes wrote

It’s not just a matter of number of copies available, right now there’s a book with 400 copies and a 6 week wait! I’ll look into Hoopla, thanks.

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Adorable-Ad-3223 OP t1_istml9p wrote

Can you show me where you got the data on the 400 copies and 6 week wait? 400 copies of a book in a library system seems insane. Even for one as big as New York.

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fashionscholar t1_istufot wrote

Try looking for Verity on NYPL’s Libby and see for yourself.

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