Digipalooza 2013 Highlights

If you weren't able to attend our DigiPalooza users group meeting, we're so sorry. You missed a great time with lots of parties and food, great speakers including Mitch Albom and author Anna Banks, and tons of useful information from OverDrive, library partners, and publishers as well. Here are just a few highlights from some of the sessions. Sorry, no party reports: what happens in Cleveland stays in Cleveland, although we can acknowledge a spectacular evening at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which featured the exhibit "The Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction."   See our Digipalooza page for the complete program.   Digital Media 2013 and Beyond   Coming soon: streaming video. Why consider it? There are many reasons, including that it requires no software installation or activation, it integrates seamlessly with the OverDrive Next Gen platform and works with any connected device, it's inevitable as the platform of the future, it will include the top movies your patrons want, night owls can get their movies even when your buildings are closed, and:   OverDrive Read With OverDrive Read, the browser based reader that makes our titles available through any browser, we now have a platform that is just the beginning of our future. Smartphones are gaining steadily as the device of choice, but whatever devices the future brings, we are ready. . . and we'll be adding a steady stream of new features to engage new readers.   Maximizing ROI with Your Digital Collection Budget Presenters shared tips for making the most of your budget: Use the reports (available under the Reports tab on the Marketplace page) to understand your patrons and what they want. Use Recommend to Library to find out what they really want that you don't own. One library spends 20% of their budget on RTL requests. Buy one copy of each title and use the Holds Manager to manage the demand. Make frequent smaller orders with something for everyone to make sure users looking for new content find something fresh every day. Search the backlist for popular authors. Getting more money into your digital collection budget: Apply for grants Advocate for a higher percentage of the materials budget Look hard at standing orders, journal subscriptions, reference books, and databases and drop those that aren't pulling their weight. One important return on investment is your loyal patrons—and you need to recruit more new ones to support you in the future. Know your digital users—55.5% are over age 50. Surprise! School Digital Library   The OverDrive School Digital Library offers three different themes based on the age of the students. The library also offers metadata that includes Accelerated Reader and lexile information.     Promoting Your OverDrive School Digital Library   Libraries shared how they are promoting their school digital library service. Some used dummy books on the shelves letting students know that an eBook also exists for each of the titles. Others got everyone involved: Uncovering New Users How do you get staff to buy in to digital and help you find new users?   Big Data for Big Impact OverDrive did a huge patron survey in June, which resulted in 68,491 responses from about 25 countries, 83% from the U. S., 15% from Canada, and 1% from Australia. Here are some of the results straight from your digital customers:   APIs   OverDrive has made APIs available for use. What does that mean for libraries? It makes it possible to display all your print and digital activity in one place—your ILS catalog. And coming in September: the ability to place a hold, borrow and download, return items, and view the bookshelf.   Support Report   Spectacular results from Support Services: your patrons are finding it easier to navigate your digital collections successfully:   OverDrive Media Station   This exciting new product offers a way to introduce and display your digital collection within your buildings. A large touch screen system allows patrons to browse the most popular items in your collection and text or email themselves a link for later check out. Since nearly 60% of library card holders don't know if their library offers eBooks, this is a great way to raise awareness. If you weren’t able to make it to Cleveland this year, be sure to plan to attend the next Digipalooza in Summer 2015! Based on the feedback weave received from this year's attendees, you definitely won't regret it.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OverdrivesDigitalLibraryBlog/~3/H4-3xwgIYbw/