Q. Aren’t downloadable books available 24/7? Why must I place a hold for a title?

Libraries are given rights to only so many copies of a book at a time. We can only "lend" out that many copies. All checked out books become unavailable for immediate downloading until the book is either returned or its lending period expires.

You can place a hold request on the title through BCPL OverDrive website/app and Cloud Library website/app or through the BCPL catalog.

How to Place a Hold Using cloudLibrary

Log in to your cloudLibrary account using your library card number without spaces and your password.  Find a title that you want in the cloudLibrary catalog.  If the book is not available for immediate checkout, click the Place Hold button. When the book is returned by the previous user, an email is automatically generated to notify you. You will be notified by email when holds are ready. Hold notices will be sent to the email address the library has on file for you, which can be found in the Contact Information section of your regular BCPL library account. Once the email notice has been sent, you will have 3 days to retrieve holds from the time stamp on the hold notification. Holds will be removed from your account if not claimed within 3 days.

How to Place a Hold using Overdrive (http://help.overdrive.com/customer/portal/articles/1481090-how-to-place-a-hold-)

You will be notified when a copy is available for you to check out and download. You may have ten OverDrive and six cloudLibrary titles on hold at a time.

Place hold through regular BCPL catalog

Both the cloudLibrary and BCPL OverDrive titles are now included in our BCPL library catalog.

While you can check out e-books and e-audios, you cannot download directly from the BCPL catalog. To download and read or listen, you will need to install the Cloud Library app or OverDrive app on your computer or mobile device. Use your library card number and library PIN to log into your Cloud Library or OverDrive account and then you can download the e-book or audiobook.

Create a Wish List in your OverDrive account or your BCPL library account

A title that you might be interested in checking out later can be added to a Wish List in your OverDrive account. This is not an option within cloudLibrary.

How to use Overdrive's Wish List feature: http://help.overdrive.com/customer/portal/articles/1481655-how-to-use-the-wish-list-with-your-library-s-digital-collection

You can also create a "Wish" List within your regular BCPL library account.