Together We Read

If you use Libby through the library, you can participate in Together We Read, a book club connecting readers in the United States! The current title is One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris. This book will be available until March 6th with no waitlists or holds.

Curious what One Summer in Savannah is about?

A compelling debut that glows with bittersweet heart and touching emotion, deeply interrogating questions of family, redemption, and unconditional love in the sweltering summer heat of Savannah, as two people discover what it means to truly forgive.

It’s been eight years since Sara Lancaster left her home in Savannah, Georgia. Eight years since her daughter, Alana, came into this world, following a terrifying sexual assault that left deep emotional wounds Sara would do anything to forget. But when Sara’s father falls ill, she’s forced to return home and face the ghosts of her past.

While caring for her father and running his bookstore, Sara is desperate to protect her curious, outgoing, genius daughter from the Wylers, the family of the man who assaulted her. Sara thinks she can succeed—her attacker is in prison, his identical twin brother, Jacob, left town years ago, and their mother are all unaware Alana exists. But she soon learns that Jacob has also just returned to Savannah to piece together the fragments of his once-great family. And when their two worlds collide—with the type of force Sara explores in her poetry and Jacob in his astrophysics—they are drawn together in unexpected ways. – Sourcebooks

Looking for more information? Try the following:

OverDrive Records – No Longer In Catalog

PATRON: Do you still have eBooks and eAudiobooks?

LIBRARIAN: Why, yes, we do.

PATRON: I don’t see them listed in the catalog any more.

LIBRARIAN: Well, we removed the records.

PATRON: Why?

 

During the first week of 2024 the RiverShare Libraries de-integrated (removed) the records of OverDrive items from our catalog.

Checking our statistics, we found that less than 3% of OverDrive users visit the RiverShare catalog to find what eBooks and eAudiobooks are available. Over 97% of you go directly to the Libby or Sora site to borrow your items and place holds.

So, we decided to save the staff time spent entering this data and also save the cost of the MARC records to be added.

Did you know that we do not “own” some OverDrive items? Many items are “metered.”  We have access to them for X number of circulations or for a particular number of months/years. Once we no longer have the rights to circulate these items, their records need to be removed from the catalog. That’s right, more work! Or looking at it from our new angle, more time saved!

What impact will this change have to you? Well, for 97% of you, none.

For the 2-3% of you who are use to locating the records in the RiverShare catalog, you will want to change your approach and go directly to the OverDrive site.

There you will be able to check out up to 5 items at a time, place reserves on up to 10 items, check out an unlimited number of magazines, and use the Settings option to control the default length of time items are charged to your account.

Don’t you just love OverDrive!?

Well, we just found a way to love it even more!

 

Library Closed for Veterans Day

All three Davenport Public Library locations will be closed in observance of Veterans Day on Saturday, November 11th, 2023. All three buildings will reopen with their regular hours on Monday, November 13th: Main (321 Main Street) 9am to 8pm, Eastern (6000 Eastern Avenue) 9am to 8pm, and Fairmount (3000 N Fairmount St) noon to 8pm.

Even though our physical locations will be closed, you can still access free digital content for all ages. Your Davenport Public Library card gives you access to free eBooks, digital audiobooks, magazines, movies, and music through Libby, Freegal, TumbleBooks, QC Beats, and Kanopy!

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Library Closed

All three Davenport Public Library Branches are closed today, Monday, May 29th in observance of Memorial Day. Normal business hours will resume on Tuesday, May 30th.

Our physical locations may be closed, but you can still visit us virtually!

Your Davenport Public Library card gives you access to FREE digital materials such as e-books, digital audiobooks, magazines, movies, and music online 24/7.

Here are my top five favorite digital content resources! Check these out and we’ll see you again on Tuesday, May 30th when the library opens.

Libby – All you need to access e-books, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines is your Davenport Public Library card. We recommend downloading the Libby app for best performance.

Freegal – Freegal Music gives you access to millions of songs from over 40,000 labels. Stream 24-hours a day. Download up to 5 songs per week.

TumbleBooks – Both children and their parents will enjoy this online collection of animated, talking picture books that teach kids the joys of reading in an exciting, new format they will love.

QC Beats – Built in partnership with Davenport Public Library, River Music Experience and St. Ambrose University, QC Beats is an online streaming audio collection of original music of Quad Cities musicians and artists.

Kanopy – Provides a variety of popular and classic movies, documentaries, and foreign films to stream. Kanopy Kids offers parental controls.
The Great Courses present a wealth of learning.

Do You Need To Update To OverDrive’s Libby App?

Still using the old OverDrive app?  The time is upon you to switch to the newer Libby app.

The old OverDrive app will become inactive at the end of April.  Downloading the Libby app takes just a few minutes.  There is no impact to your account.  The items that you have checked out and on hold will be there in the Libby app.

To use on a mobile device, you may need to update your Smartphone software.  Ensure your device is running at least:

  • Android 4.4+ (you’ll also need Chrome, not the stock Android web browser)
  • iOS 10+
  • Fire OS 4.5.4+

To download Libby to a Smartphone:

  • Go to your App Store.
  • Search for the words “Libby” and “OverDrive.”
  • Download the app.
  • Enter your App Store password to install the app on your device.
  • The app will ask you to associate your account with a library. Search for “Davenport” or “RiverShare.”  (Be careful.  Be certain to select Davenport, IOWA.)
  • Enter your library card number into the app.

After that, you should be good-to-go!

 

If you use a laptop or desktop to access OverDrive, you may still use OverDrive Read in your favorite browser.  OverDrive Read is compatible with:  Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari.

 

The end of April is fast approaching.  Spend the time today to ensure you’ll be able to checkout in May!

 

Do You Read eMagazines?

You should.

In addition to eBooks and eAudio titles OverDrive offers a wealth of magazines that are available to you 24/7.

That’s right, with our OverDrive magazine subscription our patrons have access to over 4,000 magazine titles, many with three years of back issues.  You’ll be able to see the magazines just as they appeared in print.  All the images and all the advertisements, viewable right on your device’s screen.

Magazines do not count toward your OverDrive title limit, so check out as many as you want.   You could have 5 eBooks/eAudio items checked out and, say, 30 magazines.  You also can determine your own loan period, 7, 14, or 21 days.

You will likely never need to wait to check out a title, because issues can be used by multiple simultaneous users.

OverDrive has titles for young and old on topics such as:  sports, new & current events, finance & business, home & garden, celebrities & gossip, and much more.

Seeking non-English language titles?  OverDrive has them.    

Practice your French with Vogue France, L’Ami des Jardins, Closer France, or Marie Claire Maison.

How about Spanish?  OverDrive offers ¡Hola!, Maxim Mexico, Horoscopos, and TvNotas.  And that is just to name a few!

Magazines can be viewed by using OverDrive Read in your favorite browser or in the Libby app.

Give it a try!  Check out the eMagazine section the next time you are using OverDrive (Libby).

The Wild Robot

An uncharacteristic thing has happened to this librarian lately: I haven’t felt much like reading. Of all the strange happenings in our world right now during this COVID-19 pandemic, this was yet another unexpected experience. I have no shortage of reading material. I have a reliable device I can use to download a variety of digital books. This seems like the perfect time to work my way through that looming stack of print books on my table waiting to be read.

And yet, my heart is just not in it. I sit down for about five minutes and then I am distracted and put it down and go do something else.

There has been one exception, however. I happened to be in the middle of reading The Wild Robot by Peter Brown with one of my children before bedtime each night before all this began. The chapters are short, and at one chapter a night, it was taking us a while to work our way through this 279-page book about a robot stranded on an island. But each night I read it aloud, the Wild Robot and its island populated by many animals and no humans endeared itself to me more and more.

You might think that reading a book with no humans in it during a pandemic is a lonely choice in an already lonely situation. Or perhaps on the contrary, you think it is a logical and fitting choice to read about being stranded on an island when it often feels exactly like that as we are isolated in our homes. I think there was something reflective about this mechanical protagonist who gradually (though paradoxically) becomes more humane through time and experience that captured my interest and my heart. Human interaction right now -when it does happen- is less warm and personal, more technological. Somehow the mirror image of a technological being becoming more warm and personal through challenging life experiences was a sort of balm to my woes.

Brown’s writing made reading effortless for me once again. His animal characters have unique personalities. The events that happen on his remote island, both tragic and joyful, are magically relatable. I have always been a fan of anthropomorphism. I am even more so now.

I wish I could point you to a digital version of this title that you can download immediately for free through the library, but our library currently only owns this in print. If you would like to request it for purchase in digital format, you can log into your library account using either the Libby or Overdrive apps and request this title. Be aware that it ends on a cliffhanger and you will probably want to read its sequel, The Wild Robot Escapes.

In the meantime, here are some similar books with anthropomorphic characters available digitally when you log into Overdrive with your Davenport Public Library account that you may enjoy: