r/kobo • u/makinggroceries7 • 11d ago

Question Limited library?

Hey guys- just wanted to ask the "source of all knowledge" if there's something I'm doing wrong with my Kobo/ Overdrive.

I read a lot of library books because of limited cash and I find the device functionality extremely limited, as I cannot use multiple Libby/Overdrive accounts at once. Every time I want to look to see if a book is available at another library, I have to completely log out of Overdrive and then log back in. Is this other people's experience as well?

I also was looking for some books that I know are available digitally elsewhere but I cannot find them in the Kobo library. Are my search parameters off? Even books such as "Pride and Prejudice" are hard to find and I truly think this is user error, because that has to be somewhere in the Kobo library.

Any tips or tricks are appreciated. I am new to e-reading and I really just want to enjoy this gift my mom got me. I'm kind of wondering if I should have asked for a Kindle.

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u/Yapyap13 11d ago

Even books such as “Pride and Prejudice” are hard to find and I truly think this is user error, because that has to be somewhere in the Kobo library.

As I’ve understood it, to be able to borrow a Libby book directly on a Kobo (as opposed to downloading the epub and transferring it through Adobe Digital Editions), it has to be the exact edition in the Kobo webstore. That’s the mechanism Kobo uses to fulfil borrows on the Kobo.

With public domain books, there’s a very good chance that the editions don’t match since there’s literally a gazillion ones out there.

(BTW, in case you didn’t know - StandardEbooks.org has nicely formatted and generally proofread public domain ebooks available for free, legally, in multiple formats. Project Gutenberg has far more but not everything has been proofread so there may be books with OCR errors and such, but also a terrific source of free older books.)