OverDrive launches eReading rooms for kids and teens, ads new publisher, videos

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OverDrive, the library's eBook and eAudio provider, has introduced some changes this summer aimed to improve your online experience.

To make title choices easier for younger readers, OverDrive has introduced new age-oriented rooms for teens and children looking for ebooks online.

These "reading rooms" contain titles that OverDrive has designated as YA (young adult) or J (juvenile) reading and interest levels. There are links to find books by subject, interest, and Lexile reading level.

To access these new sites, visit the links on our Kids Zone and Teens Only pages, or bookmark www.myjcpl.org/overdrive/kids and www.myjcpl.org/overdrive/teens.

Once you have entered these rooms, you will need to click the link to return to the main collection to see other available overdrive titles.

OverDrive has also struck a deal with publisher Simon & Schuster following a pilot program which was rolled out to selected libraries this spring and opened nationwide at the end of June.

In the agreement, Simon & Schuster-owned titles are now available for lending through OverDrive. Also, patrons will have an option to purchase the eBook immediately through selected retailers rather than wait for the title to become available for free lending.

This option will appear on Simon & Schuster titles as a "Buy it Now" button. A portion of these sales will come back to the library in the form of content credit through OverDrive. This agreement is currently in effect for one year.

The Simon & Schuster catalog includes authors such as Stephen King, Janet Evanovich, Mary Higgins Clarke, David McCullough, Jodi Picoult, and titles like Mr. Mercedes, Hard Choices, The Light Between Oceans, Steve Jobs, Under the Dome, and many more.

Another change which patrons may enjoy is the addition of streaming videos to the OverDrive collection. Selected titles are available to be checked out for one week. These may be viewed from a computer or portable device using an HTML5 compatible web browser, or via devices that stream content to a television, such as the OverDrive channel for Roku.