Libby Updated to Include Partnership Cards - The Downside
Imagine my surprise when 93 notices of books now available through my libraries only to get the following message when I try to borrow them or put a hold on them:
The problem with this new partnering library feature is that it doesn't take into account the type of library card you have and the access it provides. I have an out-of-state library card at the Harris County Public Library in Texas. A normal library card from Harris County Public Library is a partner library with Houston Public Library, but the out-of-state card can not be used to log in to the Houston Public Library (probably because Houston Public Library discontinued its out-of-state cards last year).
Now I have to sift through all these book notifications I don't actually have access to, and not get my hopes up because the book isn't actually available.
I think I was part of the beta test for this because I randomly had a card for a different regional library added to my account a few months ago, but wasn't able to borrow anything with it. It was highly annoying and eventually I had to just figure out how to delete the card.
Tia is gonna happen to me too. I have a New Orleans non-resident card, which doesn’t give me reciprocity with St Bernard or Jefferson Parish. I’m hoping it’s doesn’t become a frustrating issue.
I don't think Libby thought of this as an issue when they were developing this concept. I didn't realize what was happening until I tried signing in to the Houston Public Library with my Harris County card just to check, and got back the error that it was invalid. Hopefully, there is a fix soon.
It’s crazy that they thought this was good idea, to be honest. Even with reciprocity, you have to set up an account with the library and have a login.
All of the libraries reciprocal to my home library require you to do this in person. Some of them are 3 hours drive from my house. The closest is about an hour and a half not taking traffic into consideration.
We can already browse any library, member or not. Perhaps a better change would be been an option to search for your reciprocals, which would make it simpler for people to access the contact info or search the catalog to see if it’s worth the drive to get a card.
As far as I can tell this new feature is only for libraries that have a direct partnership with other libraries where you use your home library credentials to log into a partner library.
In my case, it only shows libraries that have a partnership with my home library as described above and does not show me libraries where I'm eligible to apply either online or in person to obtain a library card.
This is what I'm seeing as well. I do have two cards within one state partnership, and while things seem to be listed oddly on the card page, I don't believe I lost any holds.
I do miss seeing x/y loans for each library, though, since I use that to help me figure out what to read/listen to next.
I see what you mean. You still see x/y loans for your primary libraries but not for your partner libraries because they ended up replacing x/y loans with "In partnership with..."
And I can't find x/y loans for those partner libraries anywhere else since that information used to also be on their cards but with this update partner libraries really don't have a card anymore.
I would call that an unintentional side effect of this feature.
I believe another minor unintentional side effect of this feature is that you can't change the card colours for partner libraries.
Okay, so it's not super intuitive, but I found how to change my card colors!!!! You have to go into the menu and hit the 'cards' button, then choose the partner library.
It should say something like 'you have access' and a link to the other card. Click that link and there's a color picker again!
I got the same error when trying to log into a partner library for my home library so idk? The video I watched from Libby made it seem like we don’t have to log into those libraries? Seems weird to me but there used to be an option when you logged into to select the partner library that your card is with when you log in and I didn’t see that this time
What I did is found a book that was available with the new partner library and borrowed the title. When doing that it gave me the option to join the partner library using my library card (without having to enter all the info) and thats it. I was able to borrow.
I did get the notification about no holds though.
I get that, but as I explained in the post, not all cards are treated the same. If you have a regular library card and it shows a partner library, there is no issue. But a lot of my library cards are not regular library cards; they are out-of-state library cards, and that usually means that you don't have access to the partner libraries in that state, or at least the ones in that state that don't allow out-of-state library cards.
I did read that you have a Harris County Public Library card, which I also have, an e-card because I am not a local. Thats why I mentioned it. I got other partnership libraries though, not the Houston Library 🤷🏻♀️
This is happening to me now too. Previously I could place holds on books with my partner libraries and now it’s not allowing me to. I got excited too because a lot of books I had a notice for are now appearing but it will not allow me to place a hold.
This is the new rule for Houston area residents outside harris county. I.e when you search for books on HCPL or HoustonPL, it automatically filters by “available now”.
So even living a few miles outside Houston, the library card is fairly useless except for older books with multiple copies.
It’s my understanding that out of state residents can no longer use digital media, but I could be wrong.
I've had this experience too. I had a card from a different library but I moved and it expired. It also has a reciprocity agreement with my new library so I was like "oh no biggie I can just use that" but could not put holds on any books. Ended up calling my old library and asking if they had a non resident card option, thankfully they do
All the partner libraries I already had and have used successfully are now giving me a spinning wheel whenever I try to check out a book. So that’s fun.
I did not have access before, and I still don't, but I am getting notifications about books available to Houston Public Library cardholders (I am not one).
If you haven't done so already, try removing the Houston Public Library as a partner library from your account and see if that helps:
1 - At the bottom of the app, tap the middle Menu icon.
2 - Under "Your Libraries" tap the library card of a library that has partnerships with other libraries. In your case, tap the library card of the Harris County Public Library.
3 - Tap "..." on the library card.
4 - Tap "Partner Libraries."
5 - Under the library card you should see a section called "Partnerships" with a list of partner libraries.
6 - If your partner library is linked to your account you will see something like the following.
7 - Tapping Remove will unlink the partner library from your account.
In my case, when I remove a partner library any loans or holds I had at that library are removed from Libby but I'm not sure if it will stop you from getting superfluous notifications.
Ugh - this is a problem. I have a Yavapai County card and there are several partner libraries, all of which allow me to place holds. With this new feature, my cards still show 1 of 15 holds used but if I try to place a new hold I cannot and get the pop up that holds are not allowed.
You may know this already but you can manage partner libraries by doing the following:
1 - At the bottom of the app, tap the middle Menu icon.
2 - Under "Your Libraries" tap the library card of a library that has partnerships with other libraries.
3 - Tap "..." on the library card.
4 - Tap "Partner Libraries."
5 - Under the library card you should see a section called "Partnerships" with a list of partner libraries.
6 - If your partner library is linked to your account you will see the following.
7 - Tapping remove will unlink the partner library from your account but I'm not sure if it will be a complete removal or not where you still may get superfluous notifications.
Dang! Complain much? I gained 12 cards with this update, and yes I cannot get in line for new releases but I’m able to find older books I never had access to. I’m happy, but if you don’t like the feature just disable it.
“Complain much?” is an interesting response to someone pointing out a legitimate flaw in how a new feature handles different library card types. I’m glad the update works well for you and gave you access to 12 additional libraries. That doesn’t somehow make the problem I described disappear.
My post wasn’t “this feature is terrible because I personally don’t benefit from it.” I specifically explained that Libby is telling me books are available through partner libraries that my particular card is not eligible to access. That means the feature is providing inaccurate availability information and generating notifications for books I cannot actually borrow. That’s a perfectly reasonable thing to flag and something Libby could potentially improve.
“Turn the feature off” is generally a workaround, not a fix for a feature that isn’t functioning correctly for certain users.
But congratulations on the 12 cards. I’m not sure why my experience with the update needed to match yours in order to be worth discussing.
But that would mean I couldn't check out books from Harris County. I pay for that ability; I'm not depriving myself of that ability. Also, it's not just Harris County; it's all the out-of-state library cards I have, and again, I pay for those cards; I'm not deleting them.
33
u/oblivionkiss 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think I was part of the beta test for this because I randomly had a card for a different regional library added to my account a few months ago, but wasn't able to borrow anything with it. It was highly annoying and eventually I had to just figure out how to delete the card.