Library

Library to Add E-books, Put Card Signup Online

tablet with overdrive app
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Borrow a book and never even set foot inside a library! You’ll soon be able to go online, get a County Library card and an e-book at the same time.

At its Tuesday meeting, the County Board of Supervisors approved the plan to expand digital access to reading materials.

The County Library contracts with the company Overdrive to provide e-books. The digital media’s  increasing popularity prompted the County Library to ask the Board to approve an additional $200,000 on Overdrive materials and services.

If you’re using Google to look for book titles in the County’s service area, the search results will now show e-books available through Overdrive. Library cardholders can click through and download the book.

The new funding includes an added feature:  If you don’t already have a County library card, you can instantly get one online, on the spot, for the Overdrive books. From there, you proceed to checkout for the library e-book. This new card feature has allowed other libraries to gain 1,000 additional cardholders a month.

Overdrive is expected to deliver the library card service online in April.

Readers can also access County Library e-books through Overdrive’s app. E-books are so popular right now the County Library expects to see more than 1 million downloads this fiscal year. The number places the County Library on the list of 52 North American libraries with an annual circulation topping 1 million.

Tracy DeFore is a communications specialist with the County of San Diego Communications Office. Contact