How To Access Overdrive Ebooks Without A Library Card?

I’m a product blind bunny. For half the books available on Overdrive I haven’t had a library card. You can find out which libraries lend digital books to non-residents by Googling “non-resident library cards” for your city. A few of these might charge for the privilege but they’re likely to work out less expensive in the long run than buying individual books. And whilst the Overdrive app can be okay, Libby is much easier to use so try to choose your library on the basis of the apps they support. Hoard as many library cards as you can – they’ll have no idea you’re doing this and it’s the only way round borrowing limits. Shhh.

When I first saw that Overdrive required a library card to use, I felt a pang of disappointment. After some research, I found that some libraries issue digital-only library cards for their patrons. These online cards are often free to sign up for and can even be issued online within a few minutes. Many libraries, such as the Brooklyn Public Library and the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, allow patrons to sign up for a library card online and receive it by mail within a few days. Some even charge a small fee for out-of-state patrons. These libraries can be a good option for people looking for a work-around to use Overdrive.

Another approach is to use shared library accounts. Some libraries grant visitors “guest” accounts good for a loan while they’re in town. Typically these accounts are offered by individual library branches, not through the library’s web site. You may be able to borrow using a friend or relative’s library account; however, you should be very careful not to accumulate overdue books under someone else’s account, or you could damage your relationship with that person. Also, many libraries form partnerships with employers, schools, non-profits and place of worship organizations, so you may already have a library account through one of these groups. Institutional portals offer access to libraries that partner with employers, schools and organizations of all kinds. Check with your workplace or school to see if they have made such an arrangement. And yes, the Libby app makes borrowing books through Overdrive very easy once you have an account. So it is very much worth your while to find a way to gain access to a library account.

Last, but not least, I should mention Project Gutenberg and Open Library which offer many classics and out of copyright books to download for free. While they do not offer the same selection as the Overdrive catalogs available through the Libby app, they are free and could serve as a stopgap until you are able to get better digital access to books through your local library. If you cannot find what you are looking for now, perhaps you could speak up and help bring about change in the libraries in your community.

So often the problem with users is not entering the card number correctly but rather the PIN. Many users receive a library card but do not realize that Overdrive requires a PIN in order to borrow e-books and downloadable content. If a user is unable to log in with their library card number and PIN, contact the library where the card was issued to have the PIN changed for the user. A common problem with users trying to log into Overdrive is that the log in for the library’s catalog is different from the log in for Overdrive. Sometimes users will need to use their 14 digit library card number without any spaces and even with a prefix such asLIB. Look up the library’s digital help page to find the correct log in information for Overdrive, as well as for the library’s catalog, as sometimes only one combination will work and users will assume that Overdrive is not working.