My experience with borrowing e-books from the Wellington City Libraries

It was an exciting venture for me when I first borrowed e-books from the Library. I was amazed with the fact that the e-books would actually expire and that I no longer need to worry about overdue fees. However, I did not actually touch the first batch of e-books I borrowed.  To be honest, I forgot all about them because I had some 'hard-copy' books I also borrowed that time which will incur overdue fines!

When I realized I had e-books that I borrowed too, they had already lapsed and can no longer be opened.  That, in itself, was interesting.


I also learned a number of things on my second try.

Because I did not open the first batch of e-books, I did not know that one actually needs an Adobe ID.  I encountered this 'problem' when I borrowed the books using the laptop, and then I copied the downloaded e-books into a thumb drive so I can load it into the tablet.  The books would not open, saying my tablet was not authorized and that I needed an Adobe ID.

Another problem I encountered was that the books would not open on my preferred reader.  I then did the following on my tablet:

• I got an Adobe ID
• I downloaded the Wellington City Library app (which, unfortunately, I found difficult to work with - I prefer the website version)
• I downloaded the OverDrive Media Console

This is where my confusion comes in.  The description for the OverDrive software is that you use it to download the books and transfer these to your preferred device.  When I first used the laptop I downloaded the e-books just fine without OverDrive so I proceeded to transfer the e-books via a thumb drive.  Which obviously did not work.  Even with the Adobe ID verified on my tablet, it still would not work.

Only when I downloaded OverDrive on the tablet was I able to open the e-books.  But the thing is, OverDrive is actually an e-reader client software as well!  Strange that they did not mention that in the description.  So now I am using OverDrive to read the books on the tablet.  I have not yet attempted to transfer the books via OverDrive to our e-reader hardware, it's already working on the tablet anyway.

So if you would like to borrow e-books at the Wellington City Libraries, you will need:

• a Library Account number for Wellington City Libraries;
• an Adobe ID;
• internet access to visit the eLibrary homepage;
• the OverDrive Media Console software.