On Tuesday, June 16, OverDrive released the new version of OverDrive® Media Console. To download the updated software, click here. All new users will automatically download the latest version, and existing users will be prompted to upgrade to the latest and greatest version of OMC (scheduled for late June).

Nearly all OverDrive WMA Audiobooks in your download collection are now compatible with the iPod®, iPhone™, iPod touch®, and iPod nano®, as well as Zune® and thousands of other portable devices, with a simple upgrade of OverDrive Media Console to version 3.2 on Windows® PCs.

Premier publishers, including Random House Audio, Hachette Audio, Penguin Audio, BBC Audiobooks America, Brilliance Audio, Tantor Media, and many more, allow this for all of the WMA Audiobooks OverDrive offers. Best sellers such as Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight," Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers," John Grisham's "The Appeal," and Chuck Palahniuk's "Pygmy" will become iPod-compatible downloads, along with highly-anticipated releases like Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" and Tami Hoag's "The Trouble with J.J."

In addition to enhanced transfer functionality, the new version of OverDrive Media Console also offers several highly requested features, which allow users to:

• Send MP3 Audiobooks to the iTunes® Library with Transfer Wizard.
  
• Burn audiobook parts to CD in just a few clicks using Burn Wizard--on all supported Windows operating systems.
  
• Perform a test burn.
  
• Enjoy a new playback option wherein OverDrive Media Console automatically resumes playback from the most recently played point.
  
• Let OverDrive Media Console alert them of software releases and news about the software--automatically.
  
• With iTunes v8.1.0.52 (or newer) in place, use Transfer Wizard to send titles to the iPod shuffle®.

The growing collection of Mac®-friendly, iPod-compatible OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will still be available to help libraries better serve patrons with Apple computers.

To read last month's announcement, click here. For additional information and special notes, view the critical alert in Content Reserve.

If you're interested in promoting this exciting announcement to your community, please contact your Partner Services Associate or partnerservices@overdrive.com.

Your OverDrive downloads are taking off, so it's more important than ever to be prepared. Whatever questions you might have, find the answers you need at OverDrive's Training Month, September 2009.

We'll provide a FREE, educational, and fun online program designed to increase staff knowledge and help maximize circulation of your OverDrive download library. Even better, contests and prizes are included.

The curriculum covers each area of your download service: Collection Development, User Experience, Patron Assistance, Community Outreach, and Reports. Plus, don’t miss OverDrive’s 2009 Partner Update to learn what’s new for your download library!

Online sessions will be offered five days a week throughout September with open enrollment for individuals and groups.

Registration opens July 1 and participants may register individually or as a group. Look for more information in July on how to register.

Promoting your download collection inside and outside the library is essential to increasing awareness and circulation. OverDrive is offering an opportunity to win a $2,500 collection credit and a case of MP3 players for doing just that. We want to see how your library is promoting your OverDrive download collection in the library and around your community.

We will be awarding prizes to the libraries with the most effective and creative campaigns. Examples include, but are not limited to, an in-library display, website link, social networking campaign, patron training session, school program, and many more.

Winners may also be featured at the OverDrive booth at ALA Annual 2009 and the next Digipalooza user group conference.

To participate; email a picture, link, document, or presentation to show us how you are promoting your OverDrive downloads to partnerservices@overdrive.com by Tuesday, June 30. Please include your library name, OverDrive system or consortium you are participating in, and an explanation of your campaign.

If you have questions or need more information, please contact your Partner Services Associate or partnerservices@overdrive.com.

With more than 7,500 miles traveled and more than 20 states visited, the Digital Bookmobile made its 100th stop in the ‘City by the Bay’ at the San Francisco Public Library.

San Francisco’s historic City Hall was just a block away from the Digital Bookmobile’s Fulton Street location, where 400 San Franciscans learned about downloading audiobooks, eBooks, music, and video. To view photos from these events, click here.

Following the 100th event, the Digital Bookmobile paid visits to our partners in Oregon at Deschutes Public Library and member libraries of the Oregon Digital Library Consortium (ODLC) – Library2Go.

“We had a great Digital Bookmobile experience with the chance to talk to more than 200 patrons about Library2Go,” said Lorie Vik, Digital Services Librarian at Eugene Public Library, member of ODLC. “Patrons got a televised tour thanks to KVAL-CBS and their live weather reports from the Digital Bookmobile on the evening news!” The event sparked a 33% increase in new patron registration.

Corvallis-Benton County Public Library offered face painting, balloons, and free gelato to patrons who climbed on board to learn more about digital media during their event. Patrons enjoyed sampling best-selling titles and checking out the latest MP3 players.

This month, the Digital Bookmobile will visit library partners in Colorado and Kansas. In July, while preparing for events at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago, the Digital Bookmobile will make an exclusive appearance at the Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo.

To learn more about the Digital Bookmobile, and for a complete schedule of upcoming events, visit: www.digitalbookmobile.com.

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Visit OverDrive at booth #2438

If you're planning to attend the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago, July 11-14, we invite you to visit the OverDrive booth (#2438).

In the midst of many exciting announcements to share with our library partners, we encourage you and other staff from your library to attend our theater presentations and be updated on the new features and services available this year. Presentations are scheduled every hour, beginning Saturday morning, July 11, through Tuesday afternoon, July 14. We will feature giveaways, including an MP3 player at each theater session.

You are also invited to attend OverDrive's Digipalooza party at the Chicago Public Library - Harold Washington Library Center on Sunday, July 12 from 6-11pm. Register now - space is limited!

We look forward to seeing you at ALA in Chicago!

Chinese eBooks and Download Audiobooks to be Added to Library Catalog

OverDrive Expands eBook, Audiobook Distribution in the United Kingdom

Nora Roberts and David Baldacci Audiobooks Return to Most Downloaded Books From the Library List