Photo by Emma J Nelson and McKenzie Young-Roy

A Library in Your Pocket

The Oregon Digital Library Consortium provides Lane County library patrons with thousands of free ebooks and audiobooks to peruse

Haven’t you ever wanted to slip your library into your pocket and carry it with you wherever you go? You can.

The Oregon Digital Library Consortium, also known as Library2Go, is a statewide collaborative library wherein individual member libraries compile their digital resources — audiobooks, ebooks and videos, among other resources — to expand patrons’ selection. 

The digital collaboration is run through OverDrive, an organization that digitizes text resources for schools and libraries. OverDrive is also the parent company of Libby.

Libby, which can be accessed through your mobile device or desktop, is an application that allows patrons to access all of their library’s uploaded digital resources with the push of a button. All you have to do is connect your library card, and a world of imagination unfolds before you.

Libby allows users to narrow their search by genre, format (ebook, audiobook or read-along), availability, audience, language and more. For the patron who wants a read but doesn’t have a particular title in mind, this lets you peruse the shelves from the comfort of your couch.

Every Lane County library has access to Libby, including all three branches of the Eugene Public Library and the Springfield Public Library. According to Colin Rea, director of the Fern Ridge Library in Veneta, Library2Go’s use of Libby provides some Lane County patrons with more than 75,000 ebooks and audio books, as well as upwards of 5,000 magazines.

Kate Berry, the Eugene Public Library’s adult services supervisor, says the library has more than 67,000 titles — approximately 44,000 ebooks and 23,000 audiobooks — available via Libby. Some titles have multiple copies available, she says, bringing the total number of copies to more than 129,000 at your fingertips.

“About 90 percent of that collection comes from ODLC, and 10 percent is purchased at EPL to fill patron purchase requests and extra copies of popular titles so patrons don’t have to wait as long for their hold,” Berry says.

Carrie Schindele-Cupples, library manager at Springfield Public Library, says it has been a member of Library2Go for more than a decade, and that the collection it provides is invaluable to the library and its patrons.

“Our collections budget hasn’t exactly grown over the years,” she says, “but being part of this consortium gives our patrons access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks that we simply couldn’t provide at the same level on our own.”

While Libby isn’t necessarily advertised for its accessibility, it does have many features that make it a useful tool for the average reader. 

“The nice thing about ebooks is, especially for our aging populations, you can make the font bigger,” Berry says, noting that her grandmother is an avid Libby user. Similarly, Schindele-Cupples says the audiobooks provided by Libby are perfect for those with busy schedules and don’t have time to sit down with a book in hand.

If you don’t know where to start with Libby’s overwhelming collection, Berry and Schindele-Cupples have plenty of recommendations to add to your list. Schindele-Cupples proposes you revisit a classic with Mary Poppins, written by P. L. Travers and read by Sophie Thompson, whether it’s for a young one in your life or if you’re in need of some whimsy. She also recommends Kitchen Confidential, written and read by Anthony Bourdain.

“You can’t go wrong with a lot of the books read aloud by the author,” Schindele-Cupples says.

Berry recommends Beartown, written by Fredrik Backman and read by Marin Ireland, which received high praise from Berry’s grandma: “My grandmother was like, ‘I hate hockey, but I really loved this book.’” Finally, if you’re a true crime fanatic who’s ready to settle in with a mug of cocoa, Berry says to check out Rock Paper Scissors, written by Alice Feeney and read by Richard Armitage and Stephanie Racine.

’Tis the season to get reading — or listening, whichever you prefer.

Libby is available on iOS or Android via the app store, or at LibbyApp.com. Contact your library for more information about its individual collection.