A friend and I were recently discussing author Frieda McFadden and she asked me what I thought of her books. I told her that I had never read any of McFadden's books so I really had no idea what they were like. They are certainly popular and I found out just how popular when I tried to place holds on a couple of Frieda McFadden books.
I'm used to seeing long hold times in Libby. Oftentimes, they are ~ a month or so, but for popular books they can be much longer, as you can see above. Dear Debbie isn't even published January 27, so I'm sure that hold time will get much longer after the publication date.
One of my libraries uses Cloud Library instead of Libby and this hold just made me laugh.
I didn't actually place a hold on
this on this one. There are some books I'm curious about, but not
curious enough to actually buy the book or wait 13 years. Thrillers
aren't my genre of choice, but they certainly are popular with other
readers.
Here's hoping your library books are available and if not, that your hold times are short!
My hold times on Libby and Overdrive are absurd most of the time. They feel like a long term investment since I have to set them and forget them, hoping someday I will see some good results. But I must admit I have never seen a hold of 13 years! I have never read any of Freida McFadden books either. I am not usually into thrillers. I have way too many dark moments in my life without spending my reading time with more. Happy Tuesday, Bonny, I was so busy yesterday that I didn't make it to the blog!
ReplyDeleteOops, and it's so early I have even forgotten what day it is! Oh my, not a good way to start the week. Happy Monday, Bonny!
ReplyDeleteSometimes my holds are long and maybe I'm 28th in line or something and then the next week I receive an email telling me the book is ready for me to pick up! I guess the library acquires additional copies or something...or all the copies out are returned at the same time. A long wait doesn't bother me as I usually have more books to read than I can manage! (Not a bad problem to have.)
ReplyDelete13 years?! Wut!! Hahaha that is really hilarious! I have some books that I am "weeks" away from getting and a couple that I am "next in line" ... Library holds are truly a curious thing. However, I have found that I can request the actual book and get it in the amount of time it takes for the library system to move it to my library. You might try that avenue if you really want to read those books! (and this might be the best Monday post ever... it shows how thoroughly Monday the library can be sometimes!)
ReplyDelete13 years?! I sincerely hope that's a typo! My experience with Libby is that I usually end up waiting about half of the estimated wait time. I suspect that the estimates are assuming that people will use the entire allotted borrow period to read a book, but of course many people use much less. The one thing I like about Hoopla is that anything they have is available instantly, though borrows are limited and the selection isn't as good. It does seem like borrowing a physical book is sometimes faster than Libby sometimes, too!
ReplyDeleteFor me, Libby is almost useless. The hold times are ridiculously long, and in my experience, completely accurate. A lot of times, I end up putting a hold on a book through Libby and at my regular library . . . and pretty much every time, the regular library comes through WAY faster. In fact, by the time the holds come in on Libby, I've usually found another way to read the book!
ReplyDeleteBut 13 YEARS???? A book surely can't be worth THAT wait! (And I've never heard of Freida McFadden . . . )
I am not sure I'd even be around in 13 years to pick up that book. YIKES!
ReplyDeleteDee
https://tomwoolery.blogspot.com
Our library sends out a nice newsletter every few weeks and several of those books were featured. I did notice that the system has 11 copies of Skylark but had no copies available. What I miss is what they did during lockdown. You could go online and fill out a survey and then they would fill a bag with books they think you would like and then load it into your trunk. It was like Christmas morning when you got that bag home. It was great for people like me who get overwhelmed with too many choices.
ReplyDeleteThat bag of books sounds great to me! It does sound like Christmas and a wonderful way to discover new books.
DeleteWow. That's CRAZY!!!
ReplyDeleteAs a librarian, I have to say that wait time is completely unacceptable! We buy extra copies (when we can afford it) to keep wait times down. I read almost exclusively through Libby and, while I do sometimes have to wait quite a while, I always have things on hold some I'm never without something to read. That said, Freida McFadden is crap. I won't yuck someone's yum but I don't think she's for you.
ReplyDeleteI've experienced long waits sometimes, but often our library seems to get additional copies. Once I suspended my hold too many times and they released the only digital copy they had (Marilynne Robinson's Jack). Though I haven't checked the physical books, I suspect there's still a copy. One the other hand, sometimes I'm disappointed when the book I'm interested in is available immediately but I don't want to read it immediately -- I'd only been hoping to add it to my queue.
ReplyDelete