Moving a link here to a topic in the Thoughts area ... Free Library of Philadelphia and other Library resources

http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/topic.php?t=218463

Great! Thanks Dorothy..

Texas residents....if your city belongs to the TexShare libraries, you can get a free TexShare library card and borrow ebooks from dozens of libraries, all over the state.  Some cities require that you make an in person visit to obtain a library card , while others do not.  This works especially well for people who live in smaller, suburban cities, but within driving distance of one or more much larger,  municipal libraries. 

Reposting some pertinent info from the other thread so it's at the top of this thread.

For those who do not have a local library which has an eBook or audiobook program for you to download them to your eReader or computer, or has a good selection to choose from, you can get a Library card to the Free Library of Philadelphia for $15.00 a year.  This will allow you access to Overdrive audiobooks and eBooks. Info is at:
http://libwww.freelibrary.org/register/getcard1.cfm

To view the actual selection of eBooks at the Philadelphia Library click on this link: http://freelibrary.lib.overdrive.com/A888BB6A-1C31-46CD-8F46-A02BABDB22BD/10/354/en/Default.htm

For a more specific search by genre, specific author or title:  http://freelibrary.lib.overdrive.com/6155CC51-34D2-4766-80FF-0D1C18253499/10/354/en/AdvancedSearch.htm

To do a genre search, click on Subject, then use the drop down menu to pick your genre.

RETURNING AN EBOOK EARLY:

For some eReader devices, you may be able to return an eBook early right from your device. If not, you can follow these directions below.

If you wish to return an eBook early so you can borrow other eBooks instead, AND to help move the eBook up the Wish List for everyone in the system, (instead of waiting for the 21 days allotted to borrow an eBook,) follow these directions below.

You cannot simply delete the eBook file on your computer and have it returned to the system early that way, as once the eBook is in your computer, it is a file no longer in connection with the library. Deleting is not the same as returning. Even if you delete ahead of the 21 days, the library system doesn't know it. But, when you click on "Return borrowed Item," the Adobe Digital Editions connects with the library system (if your Internet access is working AND the Library's website is running properly,) and notifies the library that you returned the eBook and can check out a new one, if you are up to your borrowing limit. 

Download the Adobe Digital Editions Reader software to your computer. It is available at a link from your Library website or directly from Adobe HERE. It is a very small download. Does not clog up your computer. You can even read the eBooks on your computer this way. Library eBooks downloaded to a computer require this software.

To "Return Borrowed Item" the eBooks: It's in the the Adobe Reader program, not on the Library's webpage where you checked out the eBook.

 Here is how to return an eBook with the Adobe Digital Editions software. Open Adobe. Bring up the list of borrowed books. It has to be in LIST form, not an open eBook. To get the list, there is a Button to the far left of the top of the page. It is an icon of 3 books. Click on that. Your books will be in a list. Highlight the one book you want to return. (Download one for a test.) To the left, there is an arrow before the title. Left click it, and a drop down list should appear. The bottom one says, "Return borrowed Item." Click that. A box appears asking, "Are you sure you want to return the item?" Click "Return." The library system will log the eBook as returned. BUT, the eBook file itself, is still in you computer hard drive (or device) and still needs to be manually deleted.

The Overdrive Media Console for audiobooks doesn't seem to have a feature like this though.  For that, my library allows me to pick the length of time to borrow an audiobook at check out: 7, 17, 21 days, and I have to "keep" the audiobook the whole time, even if I finish it early. 

FOR AUDIOBOOK PROBLEMS ONLY:

If anyone has a problem getting the Overdrive Media Console working correctly to open & play audio books, (getting a grey box saying: "Error 0x80070057: the parameter is incorrect",) follow these directions below.

For the last 3 years I couldn't get the dang thing to work. So even though I was able to download eBooks to the Adobe Reader, I was not able to listen to a single audiobook.  The directions for troubleshooting on my Library's page simply said to re-install Windows Media Player 9 (or higher,) or reinstall the Overdrive Media Console and install the latest updates to both.

NEITHER of those are the problem. Last week, I Googled and finally found these directions. It is probably your DRM file (registering the audiobook's licensing,) in your computer's registry is corrupted or not working correctly.

The OverDrive Support Team offered the following solution.
*** Please make sure to follow each step carefully. ***
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Open Folder Options and select the View tab.
3. Select Show hidden files and folders.
4. Un-check Hide protected operating system files.
5. In the warning message you receive, click Yes.
6. Click OK.
7. Close the Control Panel.
8. If you are using Windows XP or earlier, rename the DRM folder to DRM.old.

Depending on your OS, it can be found in different locations:
- Windows 2000 and XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM
- Windows 98: C:\Windows\All Users\DRM
- Windows ME: C:\Windows\DRM

If you are using Vista, please do the following:
- Click the Start button. In the Start Search box, paste the following: C:\Users\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\DRM
- From the location above, delete ONLY the following 4 files:
* blackbox.bin
* drmstore.hds
* v3ks.bla
* v3ks.sec

9. Close all open windows and open OverDrive Media Console.
10. Go to Tools > Windows Media Player Security Upgrade. If it will not run from the OverDrive Media Console, the security upgrade may also be run by going to (in Internet Explorer only) the following site: http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/Indivsite (Please make sure to have Javascript and ActiveX enabled as well.)
11. Attempt to download an OverDrive Audio Book.

I followed the procedure above and finally I am able to listen to audiobooks from my library!

Eve,

I believe that, depending on the ereader and/or MP3 player that you have, some of this may be simpler than all that you wrote.  I simply connected my Sony ereader to my computer which downloaded the Sony reader library.  Then, all I have to do is hit "download" from the library, then drag the book from my Sony library to the reader.

I did have to download Overdrive, but then its very simple to go from downloading at the library to transferring on Overdrive to my Zune.

Also, I return books from the Sony Library.

Others may do it differently depending on the reader that they have.

I'm sure that what you posted will be very helpful to some, but it would have scared me off if I had read it before trying to download my first ebook or audiobook from a library.

If the info doesn't apply to you, then, feel free to just skip past it. Not all info applies to everyone. I'm glad the Sony eReader isn't having Library problems for you. And if it truly does return eBooks to the library and doesn't just delete them off the eReader without contacting the library to return them back into the system, that's good info to know.

Eve, I'm glad to know that the directions helped others.  I'm such a non-techie that I would have panicked.  And, yes, my Sony ereader does return the books (except in one instance).  I know because (not instantly for some reason) but a few hours after I right click on the book in the Sony library, the Philly library has them off my checked-out list.  In that one instance, for some reason, the book would not go off the Sony library.  That time I had to just wait until the time period expired.

Thanks for all that you do to help everyone.  I've learned so much from pbs and other sites.   How did we ever live without the Internet and all the lovely electronic devices?

Got my card today!  Yippeee!  says kid in candy store...

I can't even get into the site in the last half hour. I also can't get into the Salt Lake site in the last half hour. Maybe Overdrive takes the systems down?

I thought yesterday & today's problem had more to do with everyone getting their eReaders yesterday and have been innundating the site to see what eBooks they can download or put on their Wish Lists.

Maybe they update their site on Sundays?

EveDallas, that could be it as well. BN.com was crashed off and on yesterday as well.

FLP is back up and running. I went on during the night and dowloaded a book from start to finish onto the Nook with no issues. Actually, biggest issue seems to be how many books I want to read that the copy is checked out but no one on the wait list. I'm scared to put too many holds on, not knowing how fast these things come available. LOL. It's not like I'm lacking in reading material.

Nancy, they only let you put 10 books at a time on hold, so that helps. I think you can have unlimited things on your WL, however, so you can keep track of your wants that way without keeping a separate list somewhere. I got a little backed up at first and putting things on the WL helped me avoid that. 

Probably you know this but I put it here as a reference. 

Nope, didn't kinow that. Thanks for the tip!

Yes, I had to learn to pace myself with FLP.  At first, it was amazing how fast I moved up on the holds list.  Of course, the people ahead of you might take the allowed 3 weeks or they might read a book in a day and return it.

Now I am getting a service error with the FLP. It's a 503 error and won't load the website whatsoever. 

Well yea, but them having SNOW doesn't mean I can just up and not READ people! Come on now, are you serious? What's the point of having a Nook if I can't read the darn thing, I get this thing and errors all over the place and Barnes and Noble not being psychic and knowing that I want to download that book RIGHT THIS SECOND. I mean, really! They did it just to make me angry, I know it!

Yes, the storm came a day or two too soon. People needed to have downloaded their books already, and then we could have had a snow day to sit home and read.

Last night I could access my account but could not look at anything else.  This morning I'm getting an error--doesn't recognize my account, etc.  Anyone else?  I thought I'd give it another day or so before calling.