How to Borrow Library Books on Kindle (OverDrive & Libby)

Today, we go through the process of borrowing library books on Kindle using Libby and Overdrive.

0:00 - Video Starts
0:46 - How borrowing books from a library works
3:55 - How to borrow a library book
4:21 - Overdrive and Libby
4:58 - Signing in using your library card
5:59 - Borrowing using Libby
7:13 - Returning the borrowed book
7:32 - Special perks of reading library books on Kindle

Hi there!

It’s great to meet you 🥰

My name is Maneetpaul Singh, but my friends call me Maneet (pronounced muh-neet). I'm a bookworm from Connecticut who loves tech. When I bought my first e-reader in 2020, I began reading more than I ever had before. I’ve made it my mission to help people fall in love with reading through Book Tech.

Think of me like the MKBHD of books.

There are three things I want you to know.

Thanks so much for being here.

Happy reading!

Social Links:

[duprejr]

There’s one thing that I wish more people knew about. That’s playing the hold game. You don’t have to only put books that you want to read soon on your holds list. My holds list is completely full of books that I want to read in the future but have long wait times. Here’s what I do. I put the book on hold. Then I immediately suspend the hold for the longest time available which is 180 days. Even if you suspend your hold, you continue to move up in the line. At some point you will be first in line. But, as long as your hold is suspended the next person in line gets the book. When I’m ready to read a book, I go to my list of holds and look for the ones where I’m first in line. If there’s one I want to read now, I unsuspend the hold. I usually get the book within the next day or two. The only maintenance I do with this process is to review the suspension times and if they start getting low I’ll edit each hold and change the hold suspension back to 180 days. If you don’t do this, you may get a whole bunch of holds get released to you at one time.

[sapphicism]

Quick tip: You can actually already return the book in Libby after you’ve already sent it to your Kindle. It won’t disappear from your Kindle until the loan ends even if you’ve already returned it in Libby :) I do this so the next person waiting for the book can get it earlier than expected.

[kyyrtuw]

Guys Overdrive on Kindle only works in the US, if you live somewhere else like Canada a Kobo is what you need for borrowing library books

[kindlechick]

When you borrow a library book on your Kindle, as long as you keep your wireless turned off the book will stay there. This comes in handy if you can’t finish the book on time.

[shethewriter]

The fact that kindle saves your library annotations is such a game changer.

[oldman]

Good seeing a video on borrowing from libraries. I use the Boston Public Library and I'm 95 miles away in Western Massachusetts. Great for borrowing books when you live in a rural part of the state.
There are certain libraries that allow for lending books to non-residents. One which comes to mind is the Brooklyn Public Library, but they charge a $50 fee.

[MeteoricMarlin]

One of my favorite Libby features is the “Skip the Line” feature. It’s a curated list of popular books that the library has temporarily obtained additional “copies” of to loan out (at least that was my understanding). It’s worth looking into. I check it almost daily and most of my recent reads have been from there. It took me a while to even notice it so I was super glad when I discovered it. The only downside is that they are shorter loans. A normal timeframe is generally 21 days whereas skip the line books are only loaned out for 7 days.

[carmelodwyer]

I rarely leave comments but I just had to come on here and say how grateful I am for your very informative videos. You explain everything so clearly and articulately, which is hard to find on YouTube. You get 5 stars from me and I’ve subscribed to your channel. Thank you and I look forward to more great content.

[karengallardo]

Best video I have watched on how to barrow books on your kindle!!! Loved it! Thank you!!!

[chrisconnors]

I like Libby's access to audiobooks as well. I can play them straight from Libby rather than another music app; and Libby has the features you're most likely to use (e.g., speeding up the audio).

It is also possible to change the length of time you have a book borrowed. I set mine to 7 days rather than 3 weeks. If I haven't read it within 7 days, I'm not likely to read it within 3 weeks. They also have speed reads (3 days) on some pretty good books.

You're quite right about getting multiple cards. I have cards for two provinces: northern Ontario, southern BC. The BC card has far better selection, and has more copies of the best-selling books. The Ontario library may tell me my book will be available in 4 months (I've had them 11 months away), but the BC one either has them available right away, or just a 2-week wait. On occasion, the Ontario one has books the BC one does not so between the two cards, my book needs are mostly covered, although I'm am considering a way I can get a southern Ontario library card as I'm sure they'll have a large selection too.

[paulagpavao]

Great that you did a video on this!! More people should know this. I love Libby and when I found out about it, it completely changed my way of using my kindle and reading. It has a lot of audiobooks too which got me into it and I have multiple library cards and they come in so handy. But beware that some libraries or some of the books don't have the kindle format so you'd have to read on the app (my Vancouver library card does not have books for the kindle for example).

[SunshineFL]

I glad you did this video. I borrow from my local library all the time through Libby.

[AnaBotticelli]

This is the video I was looking for. Thank you so much

[claudiastephens]

Thank you! Really helpful video since I just bought my first Kindle.

[horxrah]

Libby is good for multiple libraries (at least in the US) as long as Libby is a service provided by the library. For example, I am in in the state of West Virginia (WV) and adjacent to Kentucky (KY). Through a reciprocal agreement between states I was able to get a library card in KY in addition to my WV card. Both library systems feature Libby and I was able to enter library card information for both libraries in Libby. In Libby I and can search for a title, see availability in both library systems and can borrow or put place a hold from either library system.

[kbdefay]

Great information, well articulated. Thank you!

[martinhowe]

Another excellent explanation - unfortunately this doesn't work if you're in the UK. I've been banging my head against the wall trying to find an alternative way to get books from my library onto my new kindle paperwhite - does anyone out there know the answer. I'd be really happy to find out if there was.

[vigita]

Thank you so much for your information it will help me a lot

[Bella-wpwz]

Thanks!! I received a kindle from a very young age, I didn’t even know Libby existed until now

[merismith]

Love this channel and info! THANK YOU.