# Philadelphia Free Library Help



## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

I just received my library card today, but  I need a PIN to sign in and when I input my information , it rejects my request and says I have to go into a branch. Did any of you have this problem? Can anyone give me any suggestions? I have my PIN that I put on my application, but it won't work. Sigh.


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

I would call them.  The letter that came with your card has the phone number on it and so does the application form.

I got my card today as well but I didn't have any problem signing in with the pin I had put on my application.  My guess would be whoever processed your application typed in the pin wrong.


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## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

kindlegrl81 said:


> I would call them. The letter that came with your card has the phone number on it and so does the application form.
> 
> I got my card today as well but I didn't have any problem signing in with the pin I had put on my application. My guess would be whoever processed your application typed in the pin wrong.


 I tried calling them today, but they had already closed. My mail wasn't delivered until 5:15 and the library closed at 5:00. I'll try to call again tomorrow since they are open from 1:00PM - 5:00PM on Sundays.
Have you checked out any books today since you got you card? I am sure you are having fun browsing.


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## luvshihtzu (Dec 19, 2008)

I was able to request the pin by email after my card didn't work.  There is a place on the site to request the pin used.  They sent it and then I finally remembered it was the same pin that I must have put on my application.  Completely forgot I had done that.


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## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

Quite embarrassing, I figured out my problem.OOPS. I had completed and printed but not mailed the Philadelphia Free Library form about one month before I finally mailed a card request. When I did finally mail the card request, for some reason I completed the form again instead of using the one that I had previously completed which was sitting on my desk just waiting to be put in an envelope and mailed. When I completed the form for a second time, for some reason I put a different email address on the form rather than my primary email(The one I had originally put on the form)I also put a different PIN. I thought that I made a copy of my form before I mailed it. When I received my card in the mail yesterday and needed a PIN,I saw the form on my desk and input that PIN. When the PIN didn't work, I tried recovering it on their site but of course I put in the email that was on the form on my desk. Late last night I realized what I had done. Boy do I feel air-headed. HaHa


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## hannahi (Sep 27, 2010)

I don't remember if i even put a PIN on my application for a card which I mailed last Monday. I keep checking my bank account to see if they've cashed my check yet. Anxious to start checking out books!


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## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

hannahi said:


> I don't remember if i even put a PIN on my application for a card which I mailed last Monday. I keep checking my bank account to see if they've cashed my check yet. Anxious to start checking out books!


Even if you didn't put a PIN or if you forgot the PIN, you will be able to retrieve the PIN by inputting your name, zip code and email address. My problem when I got my card was that the first time I had printed the library card request, I had put a different email and PIN on it than on the one that I actually mailed to the library. WHat are the chances of that.? LOL SO anyway, as long as you are certain which email address you put on the request you sent, you should be fine.  It took a little less than 3 weeks for me to receive my card. Of course the Thanksgiving holiday was in that time also so maybe yours will get to you more quickly.


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## hannahi (Sep 27, 2010)

> It took a little less than 3 weeks for me to receive my card. Of course the Thanksgiving holiday was in that time also so maybe yours will get to you more quickly.


That's helpful to know--thank you!


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

After sending in your application, how long did it take to get a response from the library?


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## PG4003 (Patricia) (Jan 30, 2010)

ReginaLovesHer Kindle said:


> After sending in your application, how long did it take to get a response from the library?


It took me about 2 1/2 weeks. I was keeping an eye on it and noticed my check had cleared, so was expecting to get it in the mail any time. When it still hadn't arrived 8 days after the check cleared, I sent them an email, someone contacted me then and gave me my membership number via email, then mailed the card regular mail.


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

PG4003 (Patricia) said:


> It took me about 2 1/2 weeks. I was keeping an eye on it and noticed my check had cleared, so was expecting to get it in the mail any time. When it still hadn't arrived 8 days after the check cleared, I sent them an email, someone contacted me then and gave me my membership number via email, then mailed the card regular mail.


Thank you for letting me know, I will keep track of it too. I have just decided to buy a nook so am pretty excited about this.


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## love2read (Nov 23, 2008)

Are you buy the Nook Classic or Nook Color? Congratulations! I really think that Amazon is missing out by not adding the library feature to the Kindle. This decision has made many loyal customers look outside of Amazon to buy another ereader.  Since I now have another device I have stopped buying Kindle books. At least for now I would prefer to buy them to be more open to other readers. With the awesome screen of the K3 it would be great to have the library feature too. I hope Amazon changes their mind about this at some point.


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

love2read said:


> Are you buy the Nook Classic or Nook Color? Congratulations! I really think that Amazon is missing out by not adding the library feature to the Kindle. This decision has made many loyal customers look outside of Amazon to buy another ereader. Since I now have another device I have stopped buying Kindle books. At least for now I would prefer to buy them to be more open to other readers. With the awesome screen of the K3 it would be great to have the library feature too. I hope Amazon changes their mind about this at some point.


the Nook Classic. I am on the computer all day at work and I have an iPhone, so I get tired of the LCD screen after awhile.

I wish the Kindle could read library boooks, I go back and forth between wishing Amazon made this availability v. Overdrive offering library books in a format accessible to kindle users.


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## hannahi (Sep 27, 2010)

I got my FLoP card exactly one week after mailing my application! (I live in MN BTW) It seemed like a long week though


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

Great thank you!


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## luvshihtzu (Dec 19, 2008)

Mine got to me in one week also.  Because I am over 65 years of age, my card was sent for free.  I made a donation for their recent fund raising drive so that others might benefit from this great program.  Hope others will do the same.


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## hannahi (Sep 27, 2010)

I've been having trouble with the Free Library of Philadelphia site all day--anyone else? I know they're supposed to be down on Sunday evenings for maintenance but I've been trying since this morning.  Oh well, it's not like I don't already have dozens of books to read!


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

I've had trouble with their site today, too. Hope it clears up soon, I have a book on hold waiting for me.


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

Does anyone know if the ibooks app can read these books on an ipad?  My older daughter will be getting an ipad for college (it's part of an academic award she's received) and I wondered about that.


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## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

caseyf6 said:


> Does anyone know if the ibooks app can read these books on an ipad? My older daughter will be getting an ipad for college (it's part of an academic award she's received) and I wondered about that.


The best app for reading library books on the ipad is Blue Fire. I download the library books to my computer and open them either with Adobe Digital editions or Sony Reader app(both work) then email the epub or pdf to myself and open the email on my ipad then open the file with BLue Fire. You can download directly to the ipad rather than to your computer, but if you download to your computer you can read the book on more than one device at a time and also you can return the book early if you finish it before it expires.


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## AmberLi (Sep 15, 2010)

caseyf6 said:


> Does anyone know if the ibooks app can read these books on an ipad? My older daughter will be getting an ipad for college (it's part of an academic award she's received) and I wondered about that.


The BlueFire Reader app will handle the library books.


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

Overdrive has an App for the iphone where you can download overdrive library books directly to the iPhone, I am guessing this App would work for an iPad.  By the way congratulations to your daughter!


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

Ok, free library is *still* down, and so is my local library's overdrive system. This is awful! Is anyone else getting into their account?


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## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

hsuthard said:


> Ok, free library is *still* down, and so is my local library's overdrive system. This is awful! Is anyone else getting into their account?


I got into mine earlier today, but now it is down. I'm guessing that their server is just extremely busy since so many people got e-readers for Christmas.


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

I contacted my local library and they know the system is down and they're hoping it will be back up tomorrow. I think you're right, gadgetgirl, it's a huge overload from the holiday gifts.


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## hannahi (Sep 27, 2010)

The holiday gift explanation makes total sense--my local library's Overdrive site has been really slow as well. Hopefully the traffic will even out in a few days.


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

Both Chicago's and Philly's overdrive system has been hit or miss for me, however, I belong to another overdrive library system (mediaondemand.org) which is much smaller, but it has been working fine.  So frustrating!


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I've been having trouble searching both the Chicago and Philadelphia sites for the last few days as well. They just hang and hang and hang.


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

pidgeon92 said:


> I've been having trouble searching both the Chicago and Philadelphia sites for the last few days as well. They just hang and hang and hang.


That is the EXACT problem I have been having. I had one search go through on overdrive.chipub but that took forever, and then no more went through at all. My suburban overdrive website (mediaondemand.org) has had no problems. So I wonder if it is a server issue. I really hope none of my on holds come available through Chicago while this problem is going on.


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

I just found this on the Overdrive site's Digital Library Blog:

In the last few days, you and your users may have experienced error messages or slow page loads when visiting your library’s ‘Virtual Branch.’ This temporary slowdown was due to an unprecedented spike in traffic on our library websites following Christmas. While we expected a surge in usage after the holiday, your customers’ interest in eBook and audiobook downloads was greater than anyone anticipated. Many of your websites saw usage double overnight, up from what were already record levels prior to Dec. 25.

Right now, we’re managing the traffic to ensure that as many users as possible have access to the site. We’re also preparing for an increased amount of traffic this evening and into the early morning, which are traditionally peak usage times.

Not all library websites are being affected by the slow down, but if yours is, know that we’re working on both short- and long-term solutions. As we were drafting this blog post, the tech team was adding bandwidth capacity and allocating additional network resources to all OverDrive-powered websites. Additionally, we have already added new hardware to meet the increased demand on our servers, with more hardware to come. We expect that your service will be performing at the level it did prior to the holiday surge in the next 48 to 72 hours.

Of course, the enhancements don’t end there. We’ll continue to invest in the technology behind your ‘Virtual Branch’ in coming weeks and months so that we’re prepared for even the most unexpected surges in the future.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and confusion that this issue may have caused; but make no mistake: this is a good problem to have. Your library’s ‘Virtual Branch’ is more popular than ever, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure that it stays that way.

For additional status updates, follow @OverDriveLibs on Twitter.


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

I just got my library card today!  I mailed it from Chicago on 12/22/10 and received it on 1/7/11.  I emailed them for a PIN and got it immediately.  I am ready to go!  Thanks!


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## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

ReginaLovesHer Kindle said:


> I just got my library card today! I mailed it from Chicago on 12/22/10 and received it on 1/7/11. I emailed them for a PIN and got it immediately. I am ready to go! Thanks!


Congrats. 
That's a great turn around time considering you had two holidays in between. Have you already checked out and downloaded a book?


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## ReginaLovesHer Kindle (Nov 30, 2009)

gadgetgirl003 said:


> Congrats.
> That's a great turn around time considering you had two holidays in between. Have you already checked out and downloaded a book?


I agree. i was confused at first with the difference between the netlibrary and overdrive. But it seems that all the fiction books are on overdrive -- right? There are 14k books on the netlibrary but they appear to be self help, instructional and career books if I understand it correctly and a little over 4k ebooks on overdrive. I am kinda spoiled I belong to the Chicago overdrive system and my suburb's overdrive system (mediaondemand.org) and they have most of what Phili has that I want to read. However, Phili had more choices (but surprisingly didn't have others). So for me, it will be a nice balance to have the options of all 3. After all that, I checked out an audio book first.  One I have listeened two twice before and read once, LOL. Oh, Phili also seems to have more licenses than my local library system.


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## luvshihtzu (Dec 19, 2008)

Our NetLibrary sites mainly have audiobooks.  Lots of fiction available. The ebooks are the self help and military text books.  Not as many best sellers in audio as Overdrive Library has.  

I very seldom use NetLibrary because of the poor selection and also the audiobooks are harder to download.  I have to remember to only use Internet Explorer (I use Firefox) when accessing NetLibrary and also seem to have problems getting a license to allow me to open the book.  The Netlibrary audiobooks expire at the end of the license period (2-3 weeks) and if you aren't finished listening you have to check it out again.  Overdrive audiobooks will allow you to finish the book and then you delete it from your MP3 Player.


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