I have exciting news! PCCLD will be switching ebook platforms in the next few months from OverDrive to the Cloud, formerly known as 3M. Last year, we did a trial with the Cloud and found their product to be competitive and in many ways superior to OverDrive. We have had OverDrive for four years and now that more ebook platforms are coming to the market, it was time to take a good look at OverDrive and how they were serving us. Ultimately we decided that The Cloud would be a better service for PCCLD. The Cloud provides both ebooks and eaudiobooks in a variety of formats. Cloud Library is compatible with many devices, including Apple devices, Android tablets and phones, Kindle Fires, PCs and Macs. There are also some really cool features I have not seen with ebooks before such as Cloud Link which is the equivalent to electronic Interlibrary Loan!
Because I know that we have a large number of customers who use OverDrive, this will need to be a real staff team effort to make an easy transition for our customers. We plan to launch the Cloud on June 6th (with summer reading) and continue to run both OverDrive and the Cloud platforms until the second week of July. This will give our customers time to return books they have in OverDrive as well as become familiar with the Cloud. Roughly 90% of our current OverDrive content will transfer over to the Cloud, but not until OverDrive is shut off in July. That means our beginning Cloud collection will consist of a new opening day collection as well as what customers request in the Wishlist feature. After OverDrive is disabled, we will have a much larger collection in the Cloud.
Our customers will really be relying on staff to guide them through this transition. The Collection Development team and I will be providing numerous opportunities for training throughout May. We will come to each department meeting to demo the Cloud as well as provide training on the 3rd floor at Rawlings. We will also be providing handouts in hard copy and on the website as we do now with our downloadable services.
Here is a tentative timeline for our switch to the Cloud.
April- Cloud testing, collection development training, purchase of an opening day collection
May- Internal and external marketing begins, create staff training tools and handouts, Collection Development visits staff meetings for training
June 6th- Cloud Launch event
June 6th-July 14th- Run both platforms
July 14th- All OverDrive content is switched to the Cloud and OverDrive is disabled
There will be more to come in the following weeks but I wanted to let you know this big news right now! If you happen to be at PLA this week, stop by the Bibliotecha/Cloud booth to see what you can learn!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Jill
Because I know that we have a large number of customers who use OverDrive, this will need to be a real staff team effort to make an easy transition for our customers. We plan to launch the Cloud on June 6th (with summer reading) and continue to run both OverDrive and the Cloud platforms until the second week of July. This will give our customers time to return books they have in OverDrive as well as become familiar with the Cloud. Roughly 90% of our current OverDrive content will transfer over to the Cloud, but not until OverDrive is shut off in July. That means our beginning Cloud collection will consist of a new opening day collection as well as what customers request in the Wishlist feature. After OverDrive is disabled, we will have a much larger collection in the Cloud.
Our customers will really be relying on staff to guide them through this transition. The Collection Development team and I will be providing numerous opportunities for training throughout May. We will come to each department meeting to demo the Cloud as well as provide training on the 3rd floor at Rawlings. We will also be providing handouts in hard copy and on the website as we do now with our downloadable services.
Here is a tentative timeline for our switch to the Cloud.
April- Cloud testing, collection development training, purchase of an opening day collection
May- Internal and external marketing begins, create staff training tools and handouts, Collection Development visits staff meetings for training
June 6th- Cloud Launch event
June 6th-July 14th- Run both platforms
July 14th- All OverDrive content is switched to the Cloud and OverDrive is disabled
There will be more to come in the following weeks but I wanted to let you know this big news right now! If you happen to be at PLA this week, stop by the Bibliotecha/Cloud booth to see what you can learn!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Jill