Online Resources: Using OverDrive on Your Child’s Device

In part one of our series on Your Child’s Library on Demand we introduced some of the many ways the Handley Regional Library can enhance your child’s electronic devices. Part two focused on navigating the Kids and Teens section of the Blue Ridge Download Consortium and how to download as an EPUB or move it to your Amazon Cloud for your Kindle reader.

Today we will focus on the OverDrive application, a clever little app that will open your device up to a world of library resources, serving all of your instant gratification desires for ebooks, audiobooks, and even movies. (Movies available on Android and iOS only.) A perfect option for those long car drives, waits in the dentist’s office, or snow days when you cannot get to the library in person.

Unless you happen to live with a very tech-savvy teen, navigating these strange modern contraptions can get overwhelming, so screen shots will be available where possible for the visual learner, or simply the technologically challenged. If you’re a grandparent working on a 7-year-old’s tablet and trying to download an audiobook, you’re covered!

OverDrive is an application that is available for most major devices. We’ll take a close look at how to find and download it on an Android, Amazon Fire tablet, and an iPad®/iPhone®, which will cover some of the most common devices.  OverDrive is also available for Chromebook, Windows Phone, and Windows 8 & 10. If you have a different device than what we cover here, the setup is similar and the apps and instructions can be found on the OverDrive website.

Once it’s up and ready, we’ll sign in and learn to navigate the Blue Ridge Download Consortium from the device, downloading content, complete with step-by-step screenshots.

Below are three pictures. If you click on the photo, a larger picture will expand with step-by-step screen shots to follow on how to find and download the app on three different major devices.  (Hint: if you click the picture here and then click on the picture again, it should enlarge it so you can see the text.) For the Android, I am using a Moto X phone, but the icons should look similar on any phone using an Android platform. The Fire tablet is a common FIRE HD 7, and my Apple device is a iPad Air Tablet, which should look similar on an iPhone.

Android Device
iPad
overdrivefire
Amazon Fire

 

Are we there yet? Almost!

Now you need to register OverDrive. Because the next steps are virtually the same on each device, I’ll use the iPad® to complete the process by signing into OverDrive with a Handley Regional Library card, find the Blue Ridge Download Consortium, and check out a library audiobook!

You can set up an account  yourself, sign in with Facebook, or use your Handley Regional Library card. For this demonstration we’ll sign in with the library card and do a search for your library.

ipad2a

Caution! The auto-correct options that come with some phones will try to sneak in a change for “Handley”. I have had it automatically changed to “Handles” or “Handled” on various different devices, so check the spelling if it doesn’t come up right away.

ipad3

iPad4.jpg

ipad5

You’re there! You’ve added the application and signed in. Now you are ready to sign in to the Blue Ridge Download Consortium. You only have to do the previous and next steps once. Your app will remember your library after this unless you manually remove it.

To find the consortium, begin by tapping in the box to add your library.  You can also see “Add Library” at the top of the menu by tapping there.

Please note: Though you did sign in to OverDrive with your library card, (if you chose not to create your own account or sign in through Facebook), you will still need your library card to sign in to the consortium.  This is a separate process.

ipad6

Once again, search for Handley Regional Library. Watch that auto correct!

ipad7

ipad8

Welcome to the consortium! At this point, navigating will be almost identical to our previous blog post in the series, so head back there for a reminder on how to sign in with your Handley Regional Library card number.

After you sign in and click into the kids and teens section, you can then narrow the collection down to audiobooks, which is our goal today. Follow the screen shots and we’ll check out “A Wrinkle in Time” as our example for this demonstration.

ipad9ipad10ipad11ipad12ipad13

Congratulations! You just opened up a world of audiobooks for your child! Any time you wish to return to OverDrive, just find the icon on your menu and your book will pick up where you left off.

Join us next week as we download the Freegal Music App to get free music downloads and streaming.

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