Getting the most out of the Big Library Read program

By: Adam Sockel, OverDrive’s Social Media Specialist

The Big Library Read digital book club program, which kicks off June 23, offers a unique opportunity to bring your community together through a shared reading experience. Having a featured eBook available on your OverDrive website without wait lists or holds enables everyone to discuss the same book, at the same time. It also provides your library a promotion that can be used to reach new users who may not know about the digital content you have available.

By downloading and taking advantage of the Big Library Read marketing kit you can raise awareness within your community about both the program and your library’s OverDrive collection as a whole. In the marketing kit you’ll find print-ready materials and social media graphics as well as a press release template. By filling in your library’s information and sending this to your local news outlets, you’re creating a free marketing opportunity where everyone who reads, watches or listens to the news can discover this great reading program and all your library has to offer.

We recently informed library partners of the current Big Library Read selection, A Murder in Time, which was chosen through tens of thousands of votes from readers and librarians around the world. You can learn about the title and it’s author, Julie McElwain, by listening to our recent Professional Book Nerds podcast conversation where she discusses what inspired the story and her adoration of librarians, who instilled in her a love of literature early on. On the Big Library Read website, your readers can also participate in a global discussion board about the book, ask the author questions (which will be answered during a Twitter chat on July 6) and even find reading recommendations once they’ve finished A Murder in Time.

We’d like to thank Pegasus Books for making this great mystery title available. Your users are sure to love this debut novel.

*Libraries can opt out of the Big Library Read program by contacting their OverDrive Account Specialist by June 15.*