The Library Book 📕 by Susan Orlean

Posted on by Carol @ Bookaria

The Library Book 📕 by Susan Orlean | Published October 16th 2018 by Simon Schuster |  318 Pages | Goodreads

✅ PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION

“…The Library Book is Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks that reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country*. It is also a master journalist’s reminder that, perhaps especially in the digital era, they are more necessary than ever.”

*USA

✅ REVIEW

This is a wonderful book about libraries. If you’re like me, and borrow almost ALL your books from the local library, then you will like enjoy the fascinating information in it.

Not only does the author describes its history, how they function, interesting facts and figures, but she also focuses on the events surrounding the devastating, large, and mysterious fire that destroyed many titles of the L.A. Central Library on 1986.

There is a short section devoted to Overdrive, the digital distributor of ebooks and audiobooks for libraries. I get almost all of my titles from them, it’s easy to use and I would have loved hearing more about the history and operations of this company.

The author also explores many other aspects of libraries and the events surrounding the fire. Overall, a wonderful title for those of us who make use and appreciate all the services libraries provide to communities.

✅ BOOK SOURCE AND FORMAT

Loan from Miami-Dade’s Library Overdrive, audiobook

 

8 thoughts on “The Library Book 📕 by Susan Orlean”

  2. Great review, Carol! I keep meaning to get to this one because I know I’ll love it, but somehow I just haven’t. I’m even more interested to hear about the section on Overdrive. I use them primarily as well, but last year the library system in Maine let them go and moved over to Cloud, which has NO Kindle downloads…so I hate it. But I digress…moving this up the line!

    1. Oh Myndi, a few years ago Miami also stopped using overdrive and started using Axis360, which was terrible compared to Overdrive. Thankfully, we only had to endure it for a couple of years and we are back with Overdrive. I’d have loved to know more about their history and technology

      1. This is the 2nd year with this Cloud Library service. Because Maine is so small, the ENTIRE state is on it. All the libraries are part of a consortium and they make these decisions together. When I asked a librarian at our branch about it, she said it was partially a cost issue, but also heavily a tech issue. They said members had such a hard time using Overdrive that they basically would have had to hire people full-time just to manage all the troubleshooting…which I think speaks to the aging population in Maine because there is nothing remotely difficult about using Overdrive or downloading Kindle books. Apparently most members didn’t like that they HAD to have an Amazon account to download the books…ummm, there are people who don’t have Amazon accounts? Again I say, aging population. I don’t think they’ll be going back anytime soon.

        1. Overdrive is the easiest system!!! It could be the aging population but I’d think it is more of a price issue. Besides, with Libby you can read directly on the app. I hope your library goes back to overdrive. Oh BTW, when Miami used that TERRIBLE system and we didn’t have Overdrive, I subscribed to the NY Brooklyn Overdrive library and got my books from them, that lasted 2-3 years and I had to pay an annual fee of $50, the way I saw it was $4.33 per month for Overdrive was worth it, for me

          1. My thoughts exactly! After replying to you, I emailed the director of the consortium and he was really transparent about the whole thing. He said it was cost, tech issues (they had to pay Overdrive to contract a full-time support person!?!?), and Overdrive was no longer allowing them to add school libraries to the service. They wanted a consistent digital platform across all public libraries, including public schools, and Overdrive said no more. They’d love to offer a service with access to Kindle format, but Overdrive has an agreement with Amazon, so no one else can get in the game. Craziness.

          2. That is insane! I can imagine how frustrating it must be because I went through it. At least you have the option of paying for access to Overdrive with libraries like Brooklyn, if you really wanted it 😬😬😬

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