The Directors Association of the Mid-Hudson Library System have approved a service enhancement to the MHLS Digital Download Collection (OverDrive) that enables “Local Preference” for filling holds, just like our online catalog does for the physical collection.
“Local Preference” means that for items purchased by an individual library, that library’s patrons have “first dibs” on those items. Regardless of how many holds may be on that item, your library’s patron receives your library’s items first.
This enhancement was available thanks to a new sharing feature called Advantage Plus offered by OverDrive for member libraries who have Advantage accounts. These accounts are available to every member library and have already been adopted by the Beekman, Coxsackie, East Fishkill, Highland, Mahopac, Poughkeepsie, and Saugerties libraries.
This latest decision came out of a system-wide discussion aimed at providing a sustainable OverDrive service that meets the needs of library patrons. It is acknowledged that as a collective, MHLS must plan, implement, and evaluate a more comprehensive structure for funding and operation of the service given some of the latest statistics provided through the Central Library/Collection Development Advisory Committee.
With a 21% increase in circulation of the Digital Download Collection and just a 1.77% increase in investment in the collection the average patron wait time for items in the MHLS Digital Download collection DOUBLED between 2015 and 2016, from a 15-day average to 31 days.
