It’s no secret that libraries see an increase in usage during the holiday season. We’ve previously offered you a preparation strategy so you’re ready for the wave of readers learning about your digital collection for the first time. Having a robust selection that can accommodate them should be chief among your priorities, and, thanks to our Holiday Spectacular Sale, there’s still time to fill your holds, complete those series and curate unique collections for your community.

Offering a bulked up collection is a great first impression for new users, but how do you keep them engaged with the library and make sure they come back? Our Resource Center has you covered.

Training classes & events
In the Staff Training section of the Resource Center, you’ll find links to all of our training modules for your librarians, including webinars on the user experience as a reader. These are great for creating a staff of OverDrive champions, but you’ll also find training templates for teaching classes for your patrons. This is a wonderful way to not only train new users on your OverDrive services, but also provide a reason for you to bring them into the physical library to see all the services you have to offer. Pair this training with one of our Programming & Events options on the Resource Center for a memorable and informational experience for your community.

Get them involved in collection development
Regardless of how many titles you have in your collection, there will always be book requests for things you don’t have at the moment. Remind your users both new and old that they can make suggestions for new content through OverDrive’s Recommend to Library (RTL) feature. By frequently checking your RTL Manager in Marketplace and purchasing books your patrons ask for, you’re giving the community a voice in your collection. This keeps users active and engaged and helps bring them back often. A bonus suggestion is to create a curated collection on your homepage of “Books recommended by our community” so readers can see that their voices are being heard.

 

Provide instant library cards to readers
We’ve mentioned this a few times on the blog now, but our “Instant Digital Card” feature is the fastest and easiest way to increase both the usage of your digital collection and the number of people in your community with a library card. You can add this feature simply by contacting your Account Specialist to start providing readers in your service area access to your digital library in under 30 seconds. Countless people will discover your OverDrive-powered website for the first time over the next few weeks. This feature assures that they can start reading digital books instantly even if they don’t have a library card currently.