I have gushed about the Libby app before and how it changed my life, but it’s true! If you are serious about making more time for reading, this app will absolutely help you do that. Read on for more details about Libby, how to connect it to your libraries, and how to make the most of it.
What in the world is Libby?
Libby is an app that connects you to your local library’s collection of ebooks and electronic audiobooks. It’s a newer app released by Overdrive, the original electronic library app, and connects to the Overdrive collection — but I think Libby is more user-friendly. In a nutshell, Libby is a way to download books to your phone or tablet automatically without having to check out physical books or audiobooks from the library.
How do I connect Libby to my library?
First, download Libby from the app store. Once you open it, the app will ask if you have a library card. You’ll hit yes (unless you don’t have one, and then you’ll need to go to your local library to get one), and it will let you search for your library by zip code or guess your library based on your location. You’ll enter your library card number and your PIN (usually the last four digits of your phone number).
The cool thing about Libby is you can attach multiple cards to the app. For example, I have a card for my city library and another card for my county library system, so I’ve entered both in the app. I’m actually about to get a third library card for a separate library system, so I’ll enter those details when I have my new card.
Once you’ve connected to your library or libraries, simply search for a title. If your library has an ebook or electronic audiobook for that title, it’ll appear in the search results. Normal ebooks just have an image of the book; audiobooks have a headphone icon and say “audio” underneath.
If the book is available, you’ll tap Borrow and it’ll take you to another screen. This one shows how long the book will be available, which library you’re borrowing the book from (if you have multiple cards), and how many loans and holds you have left from that library.
If the book isn’t available, you can tap Place Hold. On the next screen, it once again shows you the library you’re borrowing the book from and the loans and holds you have left. It also gives you an estimated wait time for the book based on how many copies the library has and the number of people waiting for each copy.
Once you put the book on hold, you’ll get an email from the library when it’s available. When you open the Libby app, it’ll automatically download when you’re connected to wifi (or if you have data enabled).
Why is Libby so great?
I mean, isn’t it already great that you just download titles automatically to your phone or tablet without having to search for them at the library or carry around a hardcover? Here are some other reasons I love this app:
- Books automatically return to the library when they’re due. You don’t have to worry about returning books or paying late fees if you can’t finish in time, because the book deletes itself from your device on its due date. You DO have to tap Renew Loan from your shelf if you won’t be able to finish, and you can’t renew if other people are waiting for the book. On the other hand, if you finish early, you can always tap Return early and delete it from your phone. I always do this so I can free up more space for loans.
- You can have five loans and five holds at a time PER library. Now you know why I’m about to have three linked library cards in my Libby account. I almost always max out my holds for audiobooks, especially if they’re brand-new, so I like to have multiple library cards to increase my hold capacity. For example, right now I have holds on several audiobooks that were just released on one card and then holds for kid audiobooks we can listen to in the car on another card. We’re going on a trip next week, so I’m trying to have multiple audiobooks the whole family can listen to.
- You can tell at a glance how long you have to wait for a book. Once you search for a title, you can tap the little calendar icon next to a book that isn’t available. It’ll give you the estimated wait time (the same one you’ll see when you tap Place Hold). If I have a trip next week and the estimated hold time is four weeks, I’m not going to waste my precious hold space with that book.
- You can easily toggle between libraries to see which titles are available. While I love my city library, it doesn’t have nearly as many available ebooks and audiobooks as the county library system does. So if I search for a book there and get no results, I tap the little girl icon at the top right and switch to the other library and search for it there.
- You can see all your recent searches. It’s the WORST when you’ve been dying to read a book and suddenly can’t remember the title when you want to see if it’s available. Libby saves all your recent searches, so you can just pick one from the dropdown that appears when you tap the magnifying glass at the top. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you can tap Clear Recent Searches to start over, or you can swipe left on an individual title to remove it from your searches (which I always do if I’ve already checked out the book).
- You can easily speed up your audiobooks. If you use Audible, you already know about this feature, but you can increase the listening speed by tapping the speedometer icon at the top once you’re listening to a book. I usually start at 1.5 speed and sometimes listen at 1.75 speed, but it depends on the narrator and the type of book. If you’re hesitant, just move it to 1.25 to start. It’s just slightly faster than the original narration, but it helps you get through the book faster — and once you listen at 1.5 speed or even 2X speed (this is rare for me), the original narration will seem SO slow to you.
- You can skip back or forward in fifteen-second increments or skip to certain chapters. One of my favorite reading hacks is checking out a hardcover from the library and then getting the audiobook on Libby at the same time. That way I can listen to the book when I’m in the car or folding laundry or doing some other task, and then I can pick up the physical copy at night and read where I left off. I wouldn’t be able to do this if I couldn’t skip to certain chapters. To do this, you have to select the book and then tap it again. Icons at the top will appear, and you’ll tap the three lines in the top-right corner and tap Chapters. If I’m in the middle of a chapter, I use the 15-second increments to find the spot where I left off. You can also skip to different chapters in ebooks.
- You can measure how much time you have left to read/listen to the book. When you’re listening to an audiobook, a ticker appears at the bottom that shows how many hours you’ve listened to and how much time you have left. If you’re reading an audiobook, it will show many pages you have left (note that these are electronic pages, NOT the number of pages in the physical book). Tap that section again and it shows how many pages are left in the chapter, and tap it again to see the percentage you’ve read. This really helps to motivate me if I see that I only have two pages left in the chapter or that I’ve already read 20% of the book.
Have I convinced you that this app is life-changing? It makes reading and listening to audiobooks so much easier! Leave any questions about this app in the comments — and fellow Libby gushers are always welcome, too. 🙂
