Getting the most out of your OverDrive reading history

By: Adam Sockel, Marketing Communications Specialist

Last week, we released an exciting update to our digital library websites that gives users access to their reading history. Often requested by libraries and patrons, the history allows users to track what they’ve read so they can make decisions about what to borrow next. For example, readers can see which parts of a series they’ve yet to read, or avoid reading the same title twice. The reading history also enables much more accurate and applicable reading recommendation options.

With your history, you can see which titles you’ve already read from a certain author or where you left off with a series.

How Your History Works

Titles are automatically added to your History page when you borrow them. Each title on your History page is marked with the date of the loan or the date you added it. If you borrow a title more than once, it will appear in your history multiple times.

Adding Titles Manually

To add a title, select the “more icon” from a collection or search results page, then Add to history. You can also add books to your history from Title Details pages.

Importing Your Rated Titles

If you have any rated titles, you can add all of them to your history using the Add rated titles button. If a rated title is already on your history, it won’t be added again.

Tracking Your Activity in Libby
When using our new app Libby, tapping the “shelf” button will show the titles currently borrowed as well as any holds, and you’ll also find two features that align perfectly with reading history. The first is “Tags” which help organize books previously read, books you want to read, and those you loved or hated. They’re for personal use (and not shared with the library or OverDrive). Readers can add as many tags to each title as they like.

Tap Tag on a title’s details page and select one from the list or create your own tags (including emoji tags) by tapping the plus sign.

The second great feature on the Libby Shelf is “Activity.” This shows a timeline of all titles borrowed, placed on hold, renewed and returned from all connected libraries. There’s also a “For your attention” section that lists expired loans, which can be dismissed. By tapping on the underlined words in the “Activity” section you can sort results to see all the books ever borrowed on Libby, those placed on hold and much more. These two tools combine to provide detailed feedback that users can access to track reading progress and help determine the next exciting book to borrow from the library.

Titles through Libby will show up in your reading history on the library’s OverDrive website “history” section and titles borrowed from the website will show up in your Libby activity, providing you a fully synced history of the books you’ve read using the library’s OverDrive services.

For more great tips for getting the most of our your digital reading experience visit https://help.libbyapp.com/