@petebrown You might check to see if your library offers affiliated lending at other locations. Mine gives me access to ebook borrowing from about eight more libraries around the state. Beyond new hot releases, I’m often able to find what I’m looking for at one of them. Libby lets you add multiple cards pretty easily.
@alans @petebrown Here in MA we can borrow anything from the whole state-wide system- hard copy or ebook. And my town no long does late fees, so in reality you can keep it as long as you need.
@stevebrady @alans Yep, I'm in Western MA. Ebooks borrowed through Libby return automatically when your loan expires. If no one else has a hold on it, you can renew, but if there's a hold, there is no option to hang onto it the way there is with a physical book.
@petebrown Bummer. I didn't realize that. I tend to use the library system strictly for hard copies.
@stevebrady Yeah, same here. For the CW/MARS system, I rarely wait more than 2-3 weeks for a physical copy, and that is only for new releases with a lot of press. Anything else is usually only a few days' wait. For ebooks, even the Boston Public Library system—any MA resident can get a card for digital loans—will be like "We have 2 copies and 78 people are ahead of you."
@petebrown I use a Kindle to read library e-books, partly because it's easy to put it in airplane mode for the weeks it takes me to read the books I've borrowed. If it's not connected to the Internet, then the library cannot suck the book off my device.