Guide to OverDrive for Students
Contents Getting Started Pg. 2 Finding our Library Pg. 4 Finding a Book I Want to Read Pg. 7 How do I Know if a Book is Available to Borrow? Pg. 11 How do I Borrow a Book? Pg. 12 How do I Read a Book in my browser ipad Pg. 15 How do I Read a Book in my Browser Android Pg. 20 How do I Return a Book Pg. 27 Managing Your Account Pg. 29 Creating a Wish List Pg. 31 Rating Titles Pg. 34 More Help Pg. 37 1
Getting Started Before you can use OverDrive, you will need to have the app loaded on your device. It is available from Apple s App Store, Google s Play Store and the Windows Store. Once you have downloaded it, locate the OverDrive icon and click on it. You won t need an OverDrive account to read on your mobile device. Click Do this later. 2
You will be prompted to enter an Adobe ID, or if you don t have one, to create one. Note: creating an Adobe ID is simple but requires you to enter personal details including: First name Surname Email address Date of birth Do you need to have an Adobe ID? No! You only need an Adobe ID to read books in the epub format but most of the books in our OverDrive Library are in two formats. OverDrive Read epub OverDrive Read means that the books can be read in a browser. After you have downloaded the book you can continue to read it in your browser without an internet connection. epub is a common ebook format. It allows you to download the book onto your device. You can then read it at any time such as on a bus or train without an internet connection. 3 Return to Contents
Finding our Library Swipe to open. You will get a prompt to add a library. 4
The easiest way to find our library is Browse for libraries. Navigate to: Australia > Queensland > Coombabah State High School Tap on our school. 5
Sign in with your normal MIS UserID (such as jsmit41). The OverDrive password is different to your network password. If you do not know the password, ask staff at the Library. You should now see the front page of our library. 6 Return to Contents
Finding a Book I Want to Read From the home screen there are lots of ways to search for a book. You can search for an author or you can search for the title of a book. 7
You can search for Subjects These include: Non-fiction Mystery & Thriller Sci Fi & Fantasy Collections These include: Most Popular Recent Additions 8
You can also search for books according to their Lexile level. You can click your Lexile level and find appropriate books to read. 9
Don t forget there might be more than one page of results! 10 Return to Contents
How do I Know if a Book is Available to Borrow? When the book covers are displayed, you will see a small book symbol in the corner. If the book symbol is gray, it is not available. All the copies have been borrowed. If the book symbol is black, it is available. If you tap on the title, you will see Available Formats. Most books are available as both OverDrive Read and EPub. But some books may only be available in one format. 11 Return to Contents
How do I Borrow a Book? All users can borrow up to three books at a time. When you have found a book you like. Just click on the picture of its cover. You can either borrow it or you can find more information by tapping More. 12
If you tapped More, you can find information about the book. This includes: a short description of the story, or; a sample chapter to see if you will like the book. This page will also recommend other books you might like. If you really enjoyed a book, this is a great way to find some others like it that you might enjoy. When you re ready, just press Borrow. 13
This will take you to your Bookshelf. Here you can see the books you have borrowed or are ready to borrow. If you have an Adobe account, download the EPUB. Most students should down load Read (in your browser). 14 Return to Contents
How do I Read a Book (in my Browser) - ipad? Step One: Downloading After you have borrowed the book, click on Read (in your browser). The book will open in your browser. But... YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD IT SO YOU CAN KEEP READING IT OFFLINE. Click on Start reading the book. 15
Tap once on the cover (or any page of the book). You will see a white circle appear with some lines in the middle. Tap on it again. This will open up information about the book. There is also a section called Download. Click on More. 16
Tap on this little cloud symbol. The book will begin to Download. When the book has downloaded you need to save it into your Bookmarks so you can come back to it easily. 17
Step Two: Bookmarking Tap back on the Cover Page. Tap on the Share button. Now tap on Bookmarks. 18
Tap Add. You can start reading! Anytime you want to get back to the book, tap Favourites. Tap on your book to continue reading it. The book will open to the last page you read. 19 Return to Contents
How do I Read a Book (in my Browser) - Android? Step One: Downloading After you have borrowed the book, click on Read (in your browser). If you have more than one browser installed, you will be asked which one you want to use. 20
I have used the default browser with Android. The book will open in your browser. But... YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD IT SO YOU CAN KEEP READING IT OFFLINE. If you see this screen, tap on Start reading this book. 21
Tap once on the cover (or any page of the book). You will see a white circle appear with some lines in the middle. Tap on it again. This will open up information about the book. Scroll down until you find a section called Download. 22
Tap on this little cloud symbol. The book will begin to Download. When the book has downloaded you need to save it into your Bookmarks so you can come back to it easily. 23
Step Two: Bookmarking Scroll back up until you can see the book s content. Tap on the Cover Page. Tap on the Bookmarks symbol. 24
Tap on Add Bookmark. Tap OK. 25
You can now tap on your bookmark and go to the novel. You can start reading! Anytime you want to get back to the book, tap Bookmarks. 26 Return to Contents
How do I Return a Book? You must be in OverDrive to return a book. Tap the OverDrive app. When you have logged in, tap on Account. 27
This will take you to your Bookshelf. Find the book you want to return and tap Return Title. If you re sure you want to return the title, tap Yes. 28 Return to Contents
Managing Your Account The Account screen provides you with information about your account in OverDrive. All users can borrow up to three books. The My Account box tells you about how many books you have checked out and about any Wish List items or Holds you have. 29
Tap on Settings. You can change the loan period for ebooks and Audiobooks from 7 days to 21 days. 30 Return to Contents
Creating a Wish List You can only borrow three books at any one time in OverDrive, but you might see lots that you want to read. If you see a title that you would like to borrow in the future, you can add it to your Wish List.. To add a book to your Wish List, tap on the cover picture and then tap on the ribbon symbol. You will see a red ribbon added to the cover of the book. 31
To see the books you have added to your list, tap on Account. Tap on Lists. Tap on Wish List. 32
Here you will find the list of all you books you d like to read! 33 Return to Contents
Rating Titles One of the features of OverDrive is that you can rate the books you have read. In your Bookshelf, find the book that you would like to rate. Tap the number of stars that you would like to rate the book. 34
You can see all the books that you have rated. Tap on Lists. Tap on Rated Titles. 35
You can now see the list of books that you have rated. If you want to change your rating, tap the X to clear the stars and start again. 36 Return to Contents
More Help You can find more help by tapping on the Help icon at the top of the screen. You will find the answers to lots of questions here. 37 Return to Contents