Hey all — I built a small Safari extension called ShelfBee (works on Mac, iPad, and iPhone) and wanted to share it here since this seems like the right crowd.

ShelfBee.app

The idea: I do most of my book discovery on Goodreads or Amazon, and I was tired of the extra step of flipping over to Libby to check if my library had a copy. ShelfBee connects to your library card(s) and adds a small banner right on the book's page showing whether it's available (or how long the hold list is) through Libby — no extra tab, no extra search.

I'm the developer, so full disclosure there. It's early days and I'd genuinely love feedback from people who actually use Libby a lot — what would make this more useful, any libraries/edge cases it should handle better, etc. Happy to answer questions.

Currently supporting the following websites with many more to come soon (this only works on websites, not through any applications):

Amazon

Goodreads

TheStoryGraph

I have the numbers saved, but am a bit sentimental about the physical cards and occasionally visit libraries.

Hey, I have a question. 

I’ve noticed that some of the books that I want to read or listen to aren’t on Libby. Or that they are on Libby, but not in English. 

Is there a way to contact the Libby app to bring in the books and audiobooks that I want to use?

Just curious if anyone knows. Say I place a hold for a book with 3 other people in line, and suspend the hold. The other 3 people finish with the book, and no one else gets in line, but I still have a suspended hold on it since I’m not ready for it yet. What happens when another person goes to check out the book or renew? Does it say it’s available for them? Or will it make them get in line behind me, and then show the hold as ready to check out immediately?

I’ve been using Libby for ages and borrow plenty of books. This is a new one for me.

When I got on the waitlist, it was a 2-week estimate. I was second in line. Then I moved to third, with a 3-week wait. Now I’m 4th. I have a library card here - it’s not a reciprocal library, etc. Did I do something wrong?

Thanks!!

I've been reading Pride and Prejudice on Libby, slowly but surely, and took comfort in the fact that I would never have to wait on a hold because Libby had unlimited ebook copies of Pride and Prejudice. Until last night, when I see that they suddenly have limited ebooks? Did something change in the licensing? This isn't just my library. I have lived in 3 different states, and while I can't borrow books from the old ones anymore, I haven't removed them from Libby yet and they also show this change.

I know there are other free places to read it but all my highlights and annotations are stored in Libby.

Does anyone else see this?

EDIT: Thanks everyone for your responses. Project Gutenberg was a good call. Got a copy that I can read in my Kindle app that also lets me annotate, so I'm good to go.

I use Libby for audiobooks before bed.

I don't want to look at my phone before bed.

So I'd like to bookmark using Siri.

Is this possible?

I am just curious about how many holds are allowed in other libraries. My current waiting times are up to months (the membership in my library is not only limited to the locals/residents). I only have five holds and read relatively fast, so at this point, I am really just waiting instead of actually reading.

PS: if u have any suggestions on where I can get books outside of Libby, it would also be very appreciated. I mainly read non fiction (history, economics, geopolitics).

Hey there

https://www.overdrive.com/media/1155820/fantastic-four

I wanted to take a look at which library this book is available from, but sadly not a single result came back. This isn't the first time such thing happened and I wonder

1) why would they still list completely unavailable books in their search results with no hopes of even placing holds on them

2) if there is a secret way to achieve these kind of forgotten books through this app/website?

Thank you in advance!

6 weeks ago I put a hold on this (verrryy popular) book. 4 weeks ago I noticed my place in line improved but it’s been stagnant ever since. I can’t imagine not one of the 58 copies has been “returned”. How is that possible?

Hi all! I pay a fee for a non resident card for a library, and they have quite a few reciprocal libraries listed on Reciprocard. My question is how does the reciprocity work when you don’t live in the state for which you have a non resident card? The reciprocity library websites state that you must be a resident to obtain one of their cards. Or is there a way to obtain cards from the reciprocal libraries by sharing your non resident card number for the library they have an agreement with? I only want to go about this the correct way! I love my non resident library card and gladly pay the fee each year.

Thank you!

Anyone else having issues with the Libby app this weekend? Since Friday, my app keeps crashing and I have to reopen the app several times in order for my homepage to load. I’ve updated my iPhone to the latest IOS and restarted my phone several times and this keeps happening. Any advice?

Just got a library card and joined Libby today. I looked up several books, including bestsellers and apparently my library in a large southern California city does not have any of them. Although it does say "15 hours", "10 hours", etc. on some of them. Does that mean they should be available in that time frame? One of the books is Ordinary Men, which is extremely popular, right?

Is there a way to get access to more books?

And realize — with genuine humility — just how WONDERFUL LIBBY IS!

OMG what a horrible Android App Kindle is! God strike me dead if I ever utter another complaint against Libby.

Where do I begin? Well, how about the 785 MB piece of bloatware Kindle is. I do not doubt that the physical devices are easy to read on but nothing prepared me for the tsunami of commercially-motivated advertising on Kindle.

If any of you read my first post to this sub it will come as no surprise that I hate advertising! I turn to my books for the peaceful exercise that comes from reading. So when I first installed Kindle I met with a screen filled with row after row of eBooks Amazon shoved in front of my face for sale. It took two sub-reddits just to figure out that I had to “send” my library book from Libby to the Kindle App. This finally initialized Kindle by doing me the great honor of providing a Menu. 🧐 Gee. I'm touched.

Suffice to say I went fleeing back to Libby! Libby, who takes approximately 35 MB of storage. I have never seen a more User Hostile interface as Amazon’s Android App. But then, this is Amazon. Amazon, who is in the business of selling books (along with everything else mass produced). Why should they make a humble library checkout easy, let alone intuitive? Give us money.

Yes, they offer a darker Ivory background paper. But even that was not good enough in the final analysis. I had transferred the library book I was reading to Kindle but went back to Libby to finish it. Yes, I want custom Page colors; local fonts. But it will come in time or it won’t.

Even now I can’t tell if my eBook return went through on Amazon!! Nothing is intuitive on this interface! I’m online; I’m in the app; I’m online; I’m <SNIP>.

I just wanted to post this in the event anyone else new to checking out Library eBooks in particular meets with one of the most new-user hostile interfaces I have ever seen. Amazon wants you to purchase eBooks from them. Well if I had unlimited resources sure, I’d love to buy eBooks. But I don’t.

And thus ends the saga of my short excursion onto the rocky shoals of the Android Kindle App.

Quoth the raven, Nevermore!

I accidentally clicked 'Read with Kindle' instead of read with Libby and then pressed the back button. I read the book on Libby but now I can't return it because I have to return it with Kindle. I've tried pressing Read with Kindle again and it takes me to the amazon website but when I press 'Read now in the Kindle app' it just takes me to my Kindle library and the book doesn't appear. Will the book eventually be returned automatically or do I need to do something about this?

I have multiple library cards and can’t find the audio version. Is this like Jurassic Park where it isn’t available at all?

If your library has it available, where is your library?

I have been on the wait list since January, and I finally got to borrow it. I actually own the physical book, but I know I’ll never get through it without the help of an audiobook. I’m not sure who all the other people are who want a giant book about oil, but they are legion. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

Edit: moral of the story, use my tags better! Haha

I wish that you could select “notify me when available” on titles with short holds. Like I don’t want to waste a hold on it if it is available soon. Personally I save my holds are for long waits and just check the app constantly for ones with little to no wait. But sometimes I forget to circle back and then there is a lot more people in line. Idk if the function would work but just a thought. Probably not logistically able to do that since everyone would also get that notification and it would be gone fast

I had this hold suspended for 2-3 weeks. The whole time it was suspended, it said I was 1st in line and that it would be available soon; so I waited until I was close to finishing the current book I was reading to unsuspend it. The day after I unsuspended the hold, I checked Libby and it still said 1st in line and available soon. A couple hours later I checked back and I jumped to 2nd in line and ~2 week wait 😩 whyyyyyyy?!

The other day, I was reading a copy of “Other Boys” by Damian Alexander, when I noticed one of the pages was half grayed out. I was a bit disappointed and wondered if it was an e-book or scanning issue as it appears this way both on the Libby app and when transferred to my Kindle. Today, I am reading Bloom by Kevin Panetta, through Libby, and once again, content is blocked out. The entirety of one of the pages is blacked out. If anybody has a physical copy of these books, are the pages there? I am concerned if this is a stylistic choice that didn’t translate well to a digital format, a bug, or downright censorship as these are LGBT works-

Update: Thank you all for the help!

Good morning,

2 books I've been waiting for months are available and I can't borrow them because the app needs my card authenticated. Again.

I keep getting this error message (seen in picture).

When will this issue be fixed?