If you download either ebooks or audiobooks from our collection using the OverDrive Media Console app for Android, Blackberry or Windows Phone 7, be sure to update your apps for two new features:

Returning audiobooks early<
Using the dictionary and Wikipedia lookup for ebooks

These features will be coming soon for the iPhone/iPad/iPod app as well — look for OverDrive Media Console app release 2.4.

Are you borrowing eBooks from the NOBLE OverDrive site? If so, you may know that you don’t really need to return library eBooks — when their due date is reached, they become inactive for you and available for someone else to borrow. However, it is possible to return them early, and we encourage you to do so. This lets you take out more eBooks if you’ve reached the four-book limit, and it also makes the ebook available for someone else. This is especially helpful right now — usage of this collection has increased dramatically in the last few months, especially since Christmas!

How you return an ebook early depends on how you checked it out and downloaded it:

• If you chose the Kindle format, you can login to your Amazon account, go to Manage Your Kindle and return the ebook. [Instructions]
• If you downloaded the book to your computer and opened it in Adobe Digital Editions to transfer to a Nook or other ebook reader, you return it from Adobe Digital Editions. [Instructions]
• If you downloaded the book directly to an iPad, smartphone or other mobile device using the OverDrive Media Console app, you can return the book from the app. [Instructions]

(Unfortunately, there is no way to return audiobooks early.)

Do you want to use NOBLE’s OverDrive site, but you’re having trouble figuring out how to download ebooks to your Kindle, your Android phone, your nook or your iPad? Or audiobooks to your Blackberry, your iPod, or your laptop? There are so many combinations!

OverDrive My Help Links — Here is a page with help links for different combinations of formats and devices that should help you get started!

Looking for titles for the new ebook reader you received during the holidays?  The libraries of NOBLE have a growing collection of ebooks to checkout online at http://overdrive.noblenet.org.

Our collection has grown 35% in the last four months.  Children’s picture book titles have recently been added, joining popular fiction, non-fiction, teen titles, children’s books and classics in the library online collection.  All can be borrowed free of charge to residents of communities served by NOBLE, and cardholders of our participating college libraries, just by entering your library card number.

The NOBLE OverDrive collection is compatible will all the major devices, including the Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and the iPad and other tablets.  In addition to ebooks, audiobooks are also available for the iPod and MP3 players.

A user can have up to four downloadable items checked out at the same time, any combination of e-books or audiobooks.  Unlike audio downloads, ebooks can be “returned” early to access additional titles.  There are no fines or overdues with the ebooks or audiobooks because the titles expire at the end of the loan period automatically.

The service is funded by the 28 member libraries of NOBLE.  If you don’t have a library card, visit your NOBLE library.

If you’re one of the increasing number of people borrowing audiobooks and ebooks through the mobile version of NOBLE’s OverDrive site, you’ll appreciate the improvements just added to the site.

You can now browse by format or subject, and then search within that group and limit to books that are available for checkout. The Advanced Search lets you search by title, author, keyword, publisher, format, awards, and even how recently books were added to our collection to find what’s new.

You can also select your own loan period when you check out a book. Your options are 7, 14 or 21 days. This is especially important for audiobooks, because there’s no way to return them early and you can only have four books checked out at a time. If you know you can finish the book quickly, use a shorter loan period so you’ll be able to borrow more books.

The mobile version of the website works with the OverDrive Media Console app and lets you search, download and enjoy audiobooks and ebooks in the epub format. To read ebooks on your smartphone or other mobile device using Kindle apps, you should use the full version of the site to select and checkout books in the Kindle format, and transfer them to your Amazon Kindle account and then send them to your device.

Want to know more? Go to NOBLE’s OverDrive site and click on My Help to get started!

Our library collection of ebooks is now compatible with the Kindle ebook reader and the Kindle app on other devices!

You can browse or search our collection, choose a title, and check it out using your library card. The book will be transferred to your Amazon Kindle account where it will be listed with your other Kindle books. You can then transfer it to your Kindle using WiFi (or via USB, if your Kindle doesn’t have WiFi) or send it to the Kindle app on one of your other devices, like a smartphone or iPad. Right now, only the full version of our website viewed on a computer supports the management of Kindle titles, so don’t try this using the mobile version of the site or the full version of the site viewed on a mobile device.

NOBLE’s OverDrive Collection — This is our digital collection where you can search for ebooks and audiobooks to download. To check out books, you must have a valid library card and be a resident one of our public library communities or affiliated with one of our academic libraries: List of NOBLE libraries

Library eBooks for Amazon® Kindle — This video that walks you through the whole process of checking out books for Kindle users