New Hampshire Downloadable Books: For Librarians

First, do not panic -- but do not ignore the problem!

Contact Bobbi, if she is available. If not, do some initial testing on your own. Is the problem isolated to a single user or is there a widespread problem? Send a message out on the NHDB list to other member libraries to find out if they, too, are experiencing a similar situation. Contact our reps -- always listed in the Marketplace >> Support -- and carefully describe the problem with as much detail as possible and expressing the level of urgency. Read through the following authentication issues and see if one of the troubleshooting tips applies to your situation. 

There are times when you will need to submit a support ticket to OverDrive's tech support team. Here's how it is done:

• Log into the OverDrive Marketplace with your Marketplace login.
• Click on the "Support" tab. 

• Select AUTHENTICATION SUPPORT for all questions related to login problems. 
  • Tip: Contact Bobbi, as well. 
• Select TECHNICAL SUPPORT for most other support requests. 

• Ensure that your email address is correct. 

• Be as specific as possible about what you need done by the support team. Be sure to include the format of the title and all information you have about the patron's device and operating system. 
• All future correspondence with the support team member will be via the email address you provided.
• Note that the characters <, >, and @ are a few that cannot be put into the description field of the form. Using any of these characters will result in an error message.

The first step is verifying that none of your patrons can log into the service. Be sure to test multiple logins. I suggest having multiple staff members try their own accounts before assuming the worst.

Once you have confirmed that none of your patrons are able to log into the service, you will likely need to contact your ILS vendor. Why? This type of outage primarily impacts libraries that have set up SIP authentication that allows their ILS to control patron access to the digital service. When the SIP server from the ILS vendor fails, the ILS vendor must be notified and they will typically restart the SIP server.

The good news is that this is typically resolved very quickly. It is also likely that more than one library with the same ILS vendor will be affected at once, meaning someone is very likely to notice the problem and report it to the vendor. The vendor will like fix the issue for all affected libraries at once.

In the unlikely event that the outage pertains to OverDrive or the OverDrive User Login Manager, contact their support techs in the Marketplace >> Support >> Authentication Support [button] and select the tick box stating that ALL users are unable to log in. This will escalate the ticket.

Your first step is ensure that this problem really only affects a single patron. Try logging into your account account from the website and encourage another other nearby patrons or coworkers to do the same. If this issue affects all users, see the FAQ above about all users not being able to log into the service.

If the library uses SIP2 to authenticate their NHDB users, try having the patron log into the library catalog. If the patron is unable to log into the catalog, work with your ILS vendor to see what the issue could be.

If the library does not use the ILS (SIP authentication) and instead uses the OverDrive User Login Manager to manage patron access to the service, log into the site and check if see if the number (remember the prefix, if used) is entered and valid. Contact Bobbi, if available. If not, contact the reps for questions about the User Login Manager and to get a login to your library account to manage patron access.

While it is tempting to want to solve this problem by moving the patron to the top of the long waiting list, this is not fair to the patrons of the other 200 public libraries who are also waiting for the book. 

Instead, look to see if there is a waiting list and how long it is. For older titles you may be relieved to see that the list is short. In other cases, consider providing the title in print. 

Of note: If the patron takes no action on an available hold, the title will automatically be set to a 7-day "delivery later" option. This only happens once per title. If this is the first time the patron missed their hold, check to see if the hold was suspended for seven days. 

Advertise the option to suspend holds for titles that they are not ready to read at this time. 

A majority of the eBooks from the major book publishers are licensed by the copy for 12 or 24 months at a time. In order to keep the title in the collection after that 12 or 24-month period, the title must be relicensed. It would be financially challenging to relicense many years' worth of purchases and continue to purchase new titles. Librarians are encouraged to speak with patrons about the costs and expiring nature of digital licenses.