Is your digital library ready for the holiday rush?

As the end of the year approaches, we're gearing up for what is traditionally the busiest time of year for your digital library. To help you prepare, the Account Specialists from the Library Partner Services team share some of their tips for a successful holiday season: 1. Holiday promotional resources: Get your users into the holiday spirit and share a reminder that your digital collection is available even when the library is closed. Visit the Partner Portal and download the Holiday Marketing Kit (in the Winter Promo Pack) for fun holiday social media graphics, print-ready flyers to display or distribute in your library, gift box giveaway instructions and promotional materials, and resources to support device showcases and post-holiday training classes. 2. Highlight your holiday titles with Curated Collections: It is easy to curate your own collection to feature titles on your digital library site. Spotlight your holiday themed eBooks and audiobooks on your homepage and get those seasonal titles circulating. To get started curating collections, log into OverDrive Marketplace and select Switch to Curate from the SHOP drop-down menu (if you don't see the Switch to Curate option, talk to your Marketplace administrator about getting you "Library site admin" permission). Read more details about how to curate a collection here or check out illustrated, step-by-step instructions in the "Curate" section of the Marketplace User Guide. 3. Stock your collection (and be entered to win a prize!): The biggest sale of the year is in full swing now in OverDrive Marketplace. More than 50,000 titles are marked down, some up to 50% off. Plus, every purchase order submitted through OverDrive Marketplace through January 11th will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a device for the 2014-2015 Holiday Bonus giveaway. Read more here and get shopping! 4. Prepare your staff with live training webinars: Attend one of OverDrive's training sessions to learn about OverDrive Read, the OverDrive app and some Marketplace Basics to e prepared to answer all those first-time user questions. Visit the Learning Center to register for these free webinars: http://partners.overdrive.com/learning-center/live-sessions/ 5. Make your digital titles easy to find: During the holidays, many new tablet, smart phone and eReader owners will be looking for free content to load to their devices. Make it easy to point users to your digital collection with some of the following best practices: Add a link to your digital library from your main library website, catalog and social media accounts. Click here to download free web graphics from the Partner Portal. Explore the MARC record options, including MARC Express (free minimum MARC records) to make your digital titles easily discoverable for patrons browsing your catalog. For the tech-savvy, check out OverDrive APIs to find new ways to build solutions to connect users with digital media content anywhere and everywhere. NEW! Be sure to update and verify your library's information to display in the OverDrive app and at overdrive.com for the thousands of new users expected this holiday season. To learn how to do this, visit OverDrive Marketplace > News tab and read the News Alert "Bringing new readers to your library with discovery tool in OverDrive Marketplace". 6. Server maintenance & Technical Support: If your library is planning server maintenance that will affect authentication over the holidays, please alert our Support Team. OverDrive's Support Services team is also always here to help library staff that assist users. If at any time you need to escalate issues to our Support Services team for assistance or you need to alert OverDrive about maintenance, please complete the "General Support" web form in OverDrive Marketplace > Support tab. 7. Explore how service enhancements can add value to your digital collection: Engage new users this holiday season by adding any of the following features (click the hyperlinks for more details): Multi-lingual support Recommend to Library Kids and Teens eReading Room OverDrive Media Station Front Line Tech Support Contact your Account Specialist with any questions. Happy Holidays! Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.

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