Book Club eBooks now ready to read on Libby

I once facilitated a book group every month on a Friday afternoon at the wonderfully diverse Newtown library involving 8 book-loving, library users. We would discuss the ideas, plots, characters, sense of place and theme of each book like this would be our last, usually over coffee, tea and scones.

Now, that sense of communal engagement can continue on a larger scale with our first collection of always available digital Book Club titles through the eBook and audio-book reading app Libby.

Libby Book Club

We have hundreds of titles to choose from across adult fiction, Aotearoa, nonfiction, kids and teen audiences for discovery by book groups, for community reads, and fiery or friendly discussion. Expect thought-provoking reads across genres like mystery, science fiction, classic literature, poetry and award-winning fiction but also best-selling popular biographies, science and business nonfiction.

Here’s a quick selectors pick of 10 of some of the always available titles ready to read now:

  1. The Luminaries by Eleanor Cotton
  2. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
  3. The Bitterroots by C J Box
  4. When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors
  5. Hera Lindsay Bird by Hera Lindsay Bird
  6. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
  7. Te Koparapara: An Introduction the the Maori World 
  8. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
  9. Monster series by Michael Grant
  10. Mophead by Selina Tusitala Marsh

For even more options try our carefully chosen selection of over 370 classic novels by Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens – an entire pantheon of always available literary classics.

For more information on how to get started with the Libby app, go to our eLibrary page or contact us here for further helpful assistance.

The Big Kids’ eBook Read

New Zealand has a fine tradition of children’s literature, with many wonderful authors to sample and enjoy. Did you know many are also available to borrow through our eLibrary?

In December (from the 3rd to the 9th), we’ve joined with Penguin Random House New Zealand and celebrated Wellington author Kate De Goldi to provide unlimited eBook loans of her children’s fiction title, From the cutting room of Barney Kettle!

Reading Resources:

Kate has written a heartfelt author’s letter on the novel’s origins and strong sense of place (it’s set in Christchurch):

Author’s Letter – Big Kids’ eBook Read

For teachers and school librarians, Kate has provided a teacher resource to help prompt student ideas:

Teacher Resource – Barney Kettle

To start reading during this period:

On a smart phone or tablet — download the Libby app to your smart phone or mobile device, add Wellington City Libraries as your library, and log in with your library card number and surname to set up your account. Search for ‘From the cutting room of Barney Kettle’ to borrow your copy and start reading.

Users of computers and eReaders, including the Kobo range of  eReaders — you’re not left out! Find out more about borrowing our eBooks on our Getting Started with our eLibrary page.

From the cutting room of Barney Kettle won the Esther Glenn Award for Junior Fiction in 2016.  Here’s what the judges for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, had to say that year:

Surprising, gripping, heart-breaking and ultimately incredibly moving, this novel stood out right from the start. This book is packed with warmth, wonderful language, rich and witty observations, compelling characters and layers of message and meaning.

And here’s an intriguing, mysterious summary, from the Penguin New Zealand website to peak curiosity:

Meet filmmaker Barney Kettle, who liked to invent stories but found a real one under his nose.

Barney Kettle knew he would be a very famous film director one day, he just didn’t know when that day would arrive. He was already an actual director – he’d made four fifteen-minute films – but so far only his schoolmates and the residents of the High Street had viewed them. Global fame was a little way off. It would come, though. Barney was certain about that …

So begins the manuscript written from the hospital bed of an unnamed man.

[…] He has written so he can remember the inimitable Barney Kettle, filmmaker, part-time dictator, questing brain, theatrical friend; a boy who loved to invent stories but found a real one under his nose; a boy who explored his neighbourhood with camera in hand and stumbled on a mystery that changed everything …

— Penguin New Zealand

For a taste of this award-winning title’s brilliant start, click on the eBook sample below:

Join us as we read this brilliant eBook title together across Wellington in December — at school, at home or in the library, we’ll all be reading together!

Huge thanks to Penguin Random House New Zealand and Kate De Goldi, for your support of this exciting opportunity for Wellingtonians!

Pan Macmillan titles are moving to OverDrive

From the 28th of June, you’ll be able to issue hundreds of new Pan Macmillan titles through our OverDrive eBook service. eBook titles by authors like David Baldacci, Sue Grafton, Ann Cleeves and Andy Griffiths will be available for the first time on OverDrive.

Borrow eBooks

In the past, we’ve hosted Pan Macmillan eBooks through our other supplier of eBooks, BorrowBox. In response to customer demand though, and in an effort to consolidate our eBook collections, we’ve transferred this content across to OverDrive.

From the 26th of June, Pan Macmillan eBooks will no longer be available through BorrowBox.

There’s plenty of amazing and exclusive eAudio content on BorrowBox, so we still encourage you to check in with BorrowBox for new audiobook titles by authors like Lee Child, James Patterson, Eleanor Catton and Andy Griffiths. We’ll also host a smaller collection of eBooks on BorrowBox into the future.

If you’d like to get started with either our OverDrive or BorrowBox eBook and eAudio collections, go to our eLibrary Help page.

For more information or direct help with this change, please leave us a message with our Technical Support form.

Welcome to Excio!

Wellington City Libraries has partnered with local start-up Excio to bring amazing images to your Android smartphone or tablet home screen.

With the Excio app you can follow collections of images which can be used as wallpapers on the home screen of your device. The images link to our OverDrive eBooks/audiobooks and other library content, and you can even read OverDrive samples within the Excio app, as well as like and share book covers.

We have 20 genre/subject based collections on Excio which will be refreshed every couple of months. Enjoy a rotating collection of fantastic book cover images for your device wallpaper, discover new authors,  check out OverDrive eBooks and audiobooks, and share your favourites on social media.

By following our collections you can bring the library to you!

To get started, head to Google Play to download the Excio app.
The app is currently only available for Android devices, although the Excio team plans to develop an iOS app.

For more information check out the Excio FAQs – or if you need further help, email us at  enquiries@wcl.govt.nz.

Excio

New OverDrive eBooks site launched

New OD websiteOur eBook and eAudio eBook service OverDrive has been updated to include new features, simplified usage and a brand new design.

You’ll still access WCL’s OverDrive website from the same address on your desktop and mobile device at wcl.overdrive.com. We’ll still provide the same eBook and eAudio content in familiar formats and downloading and streaming options you’re used to.

However, you should notice positive changes:

  • – browsing, subject headings and links to our ‘Kids’ and ‘Teens’ pages are now at the very top of the website
  • – searches now auto complete with suggested options
  • – sign in with your library card and use a simplified account area
  • – availability of eBook and eAudio titles is now clearly labelled

In addition to these changes, there are improvements to renewals, holds and recommendations to the library.

For more information on our new OverDrive website, go to our Help page here, or to watch a video summary of our new OverDrive features click here.

If you need any help, please use our technical support form and we’ll email you a helpful response!

new overdrive

Big Library Read with Overdrive ebooks now on!

biglibraryreadEvery three months Overdrive, one of our eBook providers, runs a ‘Big Library Read’. Described a ‘global eBook club’, the ‘big read’ allows library users the chance to borrow a certain eBook simultaneously, to be read altogether – just like you would with your book club!

This time around, we’ll be reading the #1 New York Times bestselling book This Is Where It Ends from debut author Marieke Nijkamp —  from October 13th through the 27th.

This is Where it Ends is a fictional account of a school shooting, told from four perspectives over the span of 54 harrowing minutes. Marieke provides a unique and poignant look into what it’s like to experience a school shooting through the eyes of students who are living through it in real time. This title brings to light the subject of school shootings realistically, but without graphic depictions of the violence the students experience.

Once you finish this moving book, join our discussion board to share your thoughts. Join the Big Library Read and start reading This Is Where It Ends today!

The Big Library Read runs from October 13th, to October 27th.

Overdrive cover This Is Where It Ends, by Marieke Nijkamp (eBook)
“A New York Times Bestseller! Everyone has a reason to fear the boy with the gun. 10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve. 10:02 a.m. The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class. 10:03 The auditorium doors won’t open. 10:05 Someone starts shooting. Told from four perspectives over the span of 54 harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival. #1 Young Adult Debut of 2016 Winter ’15 Kids Indie Next List Goodreads YA Best Books of the Month Buzzfeed 5 YA Books You Should Be Reading This January Bustle.com 18 of 2016’s Most-Anticipated YA Novels BookRiot 15 Books out in 2016 You Should Mark Down Now” (Overdrive description)