A New Way to Search, Find & Access OverDrive Downloadable Books

At the Bentley Library, we offer a lot of resources for study and coursework, but we also think that there’s a place for recreational reading in an academic library. You think so too, judging from checkout rates of our Popular Reading and audiobook collections. Last year, we debuted OverDrive Downloadable Books, a collection of fiction and nonfiction electronic books and audiobooks for users who use mobile devices and computers. Initially, searching and browsing these books was limited to the website from which they are downloaded. Now, our entire OverDrive collection of e-books and e-audiobooks (currently 347 e-books and 237 e-audiobooks, but growing all the time!) is also searchable in both versions of our library catalog! We’ve made searching for and downloading these titles easy, whether you enter a search by using the single search box on our homepage or by using the Classic Catalog link under that box. Once a search is entered, the search result display clearly indicates whether the title is an e-book or an e-audiobook. The records feature a direct link (via a Bentley login page) to the item in OverDrive Downloadable Books. Most records also contain a link to an excerpt of the e-book/e-audiobook, allowing for “test driving” before starting the checkout process. In the single search box display, you can access those links from the search results page, as below, or from the individual e-book/e-audiobook page that displays when you click on the title link. 

The Age of Innocence is available to download as an e-book or an e-audiobook via OverDrive.

In the Classic catalog, only the direct link to the e-book/e-audiobook, titled Access this Resource, appears on the search page, as below; both the search and the excerpt links appear on the individual e-book/e-audiobook page that displays when you click on the title link.

The e-book version of The Age of Innocence as it appears in our classic catalog.

If you would prefer to use the catalog to browse the collection, you can easily see a list of the entire OverDrive collection in either catalog version. Using the single search box, type "overdrive" in the box, then on the left side of the page, click "OverDrive" under the Location heading. Or, in the Classic catalog, click the Advanced Search link. Choose "OverDrive" as the location, and type an asterisk (*) in the first search box. If you’d prefer to continue searching/browsing directly at the OverDrive web page, links to OverDrive Downloadable Books are still available on the Library’s home page in the Quick Links section, the Research dropdown menu under Search >> ebooks, and the Databases A-Z list. We are really excited to help you add to your reading list via the library catalog. If there is something you’d like to see added to the collection, let us know by clicking the Suggest a Purchase link on our home page. Happy reading and listening!