Ugh Libby/Overdrive is in vc vulture hands now. Fuck

@miguelmanalo Interestingly enough, my local library (Oakville) ditched Overdrive/Libby for cloudLibrary, owned by Biblioteca, an independent Canadian company.

@chrisfoley oh interesting! I wonder how I could get my library to switch

@miguelmanalo I’m going to the Oakville library to renew my card tomorrow. I’ll ask the librarian for insight regarding how they did it, and how other libraries can as well.

@chrisfoley cool. thanks!

@pimoore It happened three years ago but wasn’t widely known until recently. There was another thread here on MB on the acquisition, and how much time Overdrive might have left, a few days ago.

@pimoore @miguelmanalo I was just reading a fascinating article by Karawynn Long about the probable (and very disheartening) consequences of KKR’s acquisition of Overdrive:

The Coming Enshittification of Public Libraries

It must have had a Baader-Meinhof effect on me because I couldn’t help but notice that Simon & Schuster was just today sold to the same terrible investment firm:

Paramount sells Simon & Schuster to private investment firm

I can’t imagine any of that will go well for library patrons and consumers.

@miguelmanalo I just talked to a librarian in Oakville. The OPL is part of a consortium of ~15 regional libraries that pool together ebooks via cloudLibrary. Users can borrow ebooks from any of the collections through their local library’s cloudLibrary account. However, purchasing decisions are made exclusively through participating local libraries at the request of their patrons.

Neither of these options are available via Overdrive/Libby.

@chrisfoley thanks for asking! I wonder who decides for my library system

@pimoore apparently like 2020…?

@miguelmanalo @dandycat All is not lost. I’ve got another library connection that might be able to help regarding the chain of command in libraries re digital resources, and what can be done at the patron level.