A Guide to Digital Media Apps at Your Public Library: Part Three - Cloud Library

This is part three of my four-part guide to digital media apps available through public libraries. For an explanation of this series and an index to all four parts that will be published this week, read A Guide to Digital Media Apps at Your Public Library: Introduction. This guide will also be available as a .PDF booklet after the entire series has been published to this blog.

In This Post:

• What is Cloud Library?
• What is Available on Cloud Library?
• How to Access Cloud Library
• Searching and Browsing on Cloud Library
• Borrowing Items from Cloud Library
• The Cloud Library Reading Experience
• More Help with Cloud Library

What is Cloud Library?

Cloud Library is bibliotheca's digital content lending platform. It was previously owned by the 3M company.

What is Available on Cloud Library?

Cloud Library can provide public libraries with access to e-books and/or audiobooks. The materials provided are selected by the staff at each individual library. Individual libraries decide whether to provide e-books, audiobooks, or both.

How to Access Cloud Library

Cloud Library can be accessed on the web at https://www.yourcloudlibrary.com/ or through the Cloud Library mobile app. The app is currently available for Mac, Android, and Apple iOS, PC and Nook tablets, Nook, Kobo, and Kindle Fire. It is not compatible with the Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle app. Accessibility features are available only for iOS.

To use Cloud Library, you will need to log in using your library card number on either the website or the app. Some libraries may also require a PIN or password.  If you are using the app on a PC, you will also be asked for an Adobe ID. If you have an Adobe ID that you have previously used, you can enter it and have your Cloud Library account associated with it. If not, Cloud Library will randomly generate an Adobe ID for you.

If you use Cloud Library on the web, you can only log into one library account at a time. In the app, however, it is possible to input multiple card numbers from multiple libraries. To add additional cards to your account, click “Account,” then select “View Cards.” In the upper right-hand corner, there will be an option to “Add New.” You will still need to toggle back and forth between libraries in order to see the available items at each one, but you will not need to type in your library card number every single time.

Searching and Browsing on Cloud Library

Searching Cloud Library is a straightforward process. Type in a title, author, or keyword and search results will be displayed. You can also apply filters to your search: format, availability, and/or language. There is an advanced search function that allows you to limit by publication date, category, and subject. You can also perform an advanced search for a specific creator, series, or ISBN.

Browsing is possible on Cloud Library, but difficult to accomplish efficiently. When you first log in on either the app or the website, you will be shown featured categories of books selected by your library. To see more categories on the web, you need to click browse; on the app, click “All” to see the same thing: a long list of categories delineated by audience (adult, teen, or kids) and genre. From there, you can click further to view the available titles and/or the subgenres of that category.

In both the app and on the web, it can be very tedious to scroll through the available books, especially since the you need to scroll both up and down and sideways, and the scrolling tends to move very slowly. This is alleviated slightly by the “Favorites” feature. By clicking a star next to a preferred category, you can add it to your favorites list. Then by selecting the “Favorites” tab, you can view only the categories that interest you. Unfortunately, the more categories you select, the more difficult it seems to be to navigate the “Favorites” page. Therefore, the quickest way to find materials in Cloud Library is by searching rather than browsing.

Borrowing Items from Cloud Library

Borrowing books through Cloud Library is a simple process. If the item is not currently checked out, a green “borrow” button will display next to the book cover. Click this button to check out the book to your library card. Each copy of an item can only be checked out by one patron at a time, so there is also an option to place a hold. Cloud Library will send you an email when the book is available for you.

The Cloud Library Reading Experience

You can read e-books and listen to audiobooks either on Cloud Library’s website, or within the app, but these items cannot be transferred to other devices. When you open an item in the Cloud Library app, it downloads to your device automatically, so that you can access it offline. (Audiobooks will only play offline if the entire book is downloaded.) There is a setting to prevent items from downloading over a data connection when wi-fi is not available.

Within e-books, you are able to change the text size, background lighting, layout, and font. There is also a table of contents in each book so that you can move easily between chapters, and a “go to” function that allows you to move directly to a specific page within the book. Within the e-book, you can also see the number of the current page as well as how many pages remain in the current chapter. Click the bookmark icon on any page to mark a place you wish to remember. In the app, there are additional settings, allowing you to choose whether volume buttons can be used to turn the pages, whether to prevent the display from rotating when the screen does, and whether to allow page animation. In the app, you can also search the text of the e-book.

A word of warning: the reading experience of e-books in Cloud Library can sometimes be frustrating. In general, Cloud Library doesn’t handle graphics as well as other e-readers. This can make it difficult to enjoy graphic novels and picture books, as the images can sometimes take a long time to load. Occasionally, both image-heavy and text-only e-books will not open at all on the web, or will show a series of blank pages where words and/or pictures ought to be. It is also the case that sometimes changes made to e-book settings in the app do not “take” the first time.

Audiobooks are designated within Cloud Library with a blue headphones icon, which appears in the lower right-hand corner of the cover image of each audiobook. Within each audiobook, you can access a table of contents which shows each chapter and its duration. Using different arrows, it is possible to move back and forth between the book, either a few seconds at a time, or chapters at a time if necessary. You can also add bookmarks and notes within the audiobook, which will sync across all the devices you use to access Cloud Library. As with other apps, it is possible to change the narration speed in iOS and devices using Android 6.0 or higher (but not on the web, and not on any device not running iOS or Android.) There is also a basic sleep timer.

More Help with Cloud Library

For further assistance with Cloud Library, visit these links:

• Cloud Library Help https://www.yourcloudlibrary.com/common-issues/
• Cloud Library FAQ by The New York Society Library https://www.nysoclib.org/collection/cloud-library-faq

A Guide to Digital Media Apps at Your Public Library: Part Two - Hoopla Digital

This is part two of my four-part guide to digital media apps available through public libraries. For an explanation of this series and an index to all four parts that will be published this week, read A Guide to Digital Media Apps at Your Public Library: Introduction. This guide will also be available as a .PDF booklet after the entire series has been published to this blog.

In This Post:

• What is Hoopla?
• What is Available Through Hoopla Digital?
• How to Access Hoopla
• Searching and Browsing on Hoopla
• Borrowing Items from Hoopla
• Reading and Viewing on Hoopla
• More Help with Hoopla

What is Hoopla?

Hoopla Digital is a subsidiary of Midwest Tape, L.L.C., which is a distributor of physical and digital materials for public libraries. Hoopla’s mission is “to partner with libraries in delivering the best content to patrons in the most streamlined manner possible.”

What is Available through Hoopla Digital?

Hoopla makes its full catalog of audiobooks, e-books, comics, movies, music and television shows available to all libraries. Each library then has the option to place limits on what is available to its patrons, and these limits vary greatly from library to library. Some libraries don’t offer audiobooks, for example, while others might not offer movies or television. Hoopla is not like Netflix, where every user has access to the same materials. Rather, what is available to you through Hoopla depends on the limits put in place by the library with which your library card is affiliated.

Libraries do not own any of the materials found on Hoopla; rather, Hoopla contracts directly with publishers, and libraries pay a fee for each use of each item. Your library does not have control over the specific titles that are available through Hoopla. Your local librarians can neither add nor weed (remove) titles from Hoopla’s collection. Libraries can choose whether to opt in or out of offering a specific category (based on format, or price, for example), but they can not opt in or out of providing access to any individual title within the categories they choose to make available.

How to Access Hoopla

Hoopla can be used on the web at hoopladigital.com. It also offers a mobile app which is available for Android devices (operating systems 4.4 and above), iOS (10 and above) and Kindle Fire tablets (5.0.0. and above). Items borrowed from Hoopla can also be viewed on Airplay, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, Lightning Digital AV Adapter and Roku. Hoopla recommends accessing its website using the most updated versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari. Hoopla does not support Internet Explorer or Windows mobile devices. It does support Amazon’s Alexa on Amazon Echo, Echo Plus, Dot, Spot, and Show.

To use Hoopla, you will need to register, either at hoopladigital.com or directly in the app for your device. You will be prompted to provide a valid email address and create a password, then to select your local library and to input your library card number. Each email address can be associated with only one library card; if you wish to access more than one library’s Hoopla offerings, you will need to register each library card using a different email address.

Searching and Browsing on Hoopla

Hoopla’s search function is very basic. You can either search the entire catalog, search within a particular format, or search for a specific author (or person), category, publisher, or series. There is no advanced search function, but you can filter your search results by format, language, or publication date.  If you would like to limit the search results to only kid-friendly materials, you can turn on Kids Mode. In the app, simply click “Kids” next to the search box. On the website, you can toggle Kids Mode on and off in Settings.

To browse, you must first select a format; then you can limit the results by clicking on “Recommended,” “Featured”, “Popular” or ”Categories.” (In the app, “Categories” is called “Genres.”) When you click on an item title, you will also see that the names of the author, publisher, audiobook narrator, series, director, cast members, etc. are hyperlinked so that you can click on them to see more items from those same entities.

Borrowing Items from Hoopla

Your local library determines how many items you can borrow from Hoopla per month. Once you have reached this number, you cannot borrow anything else until a new month begins, even if you return items early. You can use all your borrows immediately, or spread them out over the month, but whatever limit your library has set is the maximum, and unused borrows do not carry over. (Note: if you borrow something whose lending period will extend into the next month,  it will not count against the next month’s borrowing limit. No matter what you have checked out at the end of the month, you will be given a new full set of borrows at the start of the month.) There are no renewals; if an item expires before you finish with it, and you want to borrow it again within the same month, this will count as two borrows. You can return an item before the end of its loan period, but there is no particular benefit to doing so.

Since your library pays per use, every item is always available, so there is no need to place holds. When you are out of borrows (or if you just want to remember an item for future use), you can use the Favorites feature to save titles for later. Simply click the heart icon next to the item you wish to remember, and it will be added to your Favorites list.

The loan periods for each item are determined by Hoopla and should therefore be uniform across libraries: 3 days for movies and TV episodes, 7 days for music, and 21 days for audiobooks, comics, and e-books. Hoopla mentions on its website that there may sometimes be exceptions to these rules based on publisher restrictions, but these seem to be rare.

Reading and Viewing on Hoopla

Hoopla items must be used within the Hoopla app or website. The e-reader and audio player are both adequate, but they are not as streamlined or easy to use as some other apps. In the e-reader, you are able to adjust the font size, search for keywords, bookmark pages, and access the table of contents. At the bottom of the screen, the e-reader also shows you your current page and what percentage of the book you have completed. The audio player has fewer features. There is no way to select a specific chapter. You can see how much time has elapsed and how much is left in the entire book, but it does not show you how much time remains in the current chapter.  You can adjust the speed up to 1.5x on the website and 2x in the app, but not up to 3x as you can in some other apps. The audio player also has a sleep timer.

You can download items for use offline only in the mobile app, but even when items are downloaded, they cannot be transferred to other apps or devices.

More Help with Hoopla

For further assistance with Hoopla, visit these links:

• Hoopla Help https://library.hoopladigital.com/help
• What is Hoopla? by Winnipeg Public Library https://wpl.libanswers.com/faq/199620
• Hoopla FAQ by Jefferson County Public Library, Colorado https://jeffcolibrary.org/faq/hoopla/

#YearOfHarryPotter: Half-Blood Prince, Chapters 24-27

This weekend, I finally reached the climax of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as I read Chapter 24 ("Sectumsempra"), Chapter 25 ("The Seer Overheard"),  Chapter 26 ("The Cave"), and Chapter 27 ("The Lightning Struck Tower"). There are huge spoilers beyond this point. 

The writing in these chapters is great, and even though I knew they were coming, moments like Dumbledore drinking the potion in the cave, the appearance of the Dark Mark, and Snape suddenly killing Dumbledore were all every bit as shocking to me as they were the first time I read them. I was especially impressed by the way Rowling hits us with Dumbledore's death so suddenly, just after he has seemingly escaped harm by making it safely away from the cave. It's a real punch to the gut for Harry, and for the reader as well. It was difficult to tear myself away from the book just as the death occurred, but I'm glad to have my reading schedule to slow me down because I do think it adds something to the reading experience when I take the time to stop and reflect on a major event like this.

Aside from the obvious moments of action in this section of the book, I was also struck by many smaller details. I loved the line describing Dumbledore's seemingly simple approach to magic in the cave, which says, "Harry had long since learned that bangs and smoke were more often the marks of ineptitude than expertise." I'm not sure we ever appreciate Dumbledore's true power until we see how he goes about finding this horcrux. Another line I love in the cave chapter comes at the very end, when Dumbledore says he isn't worried because he's with Harry. Throughout the series, Dumbledore is that steady character that makes us all (readers and characters alike!) feel safe, and knowing that he will die within a few pages of this remark makes it all the more poignant.

All I have left in this book now is the aftermath of Dumbledore's death. As I recall, not much is explained until book 7, but I am still looking forward to the funeral scene, which is one of the few scenes omitted from the film versions that I actually wish had been included. It would have made such a great cinematic moment. I also love the way this book ends, with Harry and his friends looking ahead at what they must do in order to defeat Voldemort.

A Guide to Digital Media Apps at Your Public Library: Part One - Overdrive & Libby

This is part one of my four-part guide to digital media apps available through public libraries. For an explanation of this series and an index to all four parts that will be published this week, read A Guide to Digital Media Apps at Your Public Library: Introduction. This guide will also be available as a .PDF booklet after the entire series has been published to this blog.

In This Post:

• What is Overdrive?
• What is Available on Overdrive?
• How to Access Overdrive
• Registering for Overdrive
• Browsing and Searching the Overdrive Collection
• Borrowing Overdrive Materials
• The Overdrive Reading Experience
• More Help with Overdrive

What is Overdrive?

Chances are, if your library has only one service for providing e-books and audiobooks to patrons, it is Overdrive, the most popular distributor of digital content for public libraries. Through Overdrive, you can search and browse the e-books, audiobooks, videos, and music your library has selected and purchased for its patrons, and you can borrow, download, transfer, and consume these materials from the comfort of your Internet-connected smartphone or computer. You can access Overdrive materials through your library’s website and/or by installing one of Overdrive’s apps, either the older Overdrive app, or the newer Libby app.

What Is Available on Overdrive?

Though Overdrive has thousands of items available, you will only be able to access the ones that have been purchased by the libraries where you have memberships. These items have been selected by staff members at your library based on factors such as community interests, popularity, patron demand, budget constraints, and availability of items in other formats. Overdrive is different from subscription services like Netflix; membership does not gain you access to a one-size-fits-all catalog of materials, but only to the materials your library has added to its collection.

Overdrive is capable of providing access to e-books, audiobooks, video, and music. Again, what is actually available to you depends on the way your library uses the service. The best way to find out what your library offers through Overdrive is to log in and begin to search and browse.

How to Access Overdrive

Your library’s Overdrive collection is accessible on the web at your library’s unique Overdrive URL as well as through the Overdrive app and the Libby app. To easily find your library’s Overdrive URL, visit overdrive.com, and use the “Find a Library” function to search for your zip code. If you prefer to use an app, you can search for them by name in the app store for your device. The original Overdrive app is compatible with Android, Chromebooks, Apple iOS, Kindle Fire tablets, and Windows 8/10. Libby is currently compatible with Android, Apple iOS, and Windows 10. Libby is not yet available in the Amazon app store on Kindle Fire devices, but Kindle Fire users may be able to download the app from GoodEReader.com by briefly enabling apps from unknown sources in their security settings. Libby can also be used on Chromebooks for which the Play Store app is available.

The type of device you plan to use to access Overdrive may determine which app is most appropriate for you. If your device is compatible with both apps, however, you have the opportunity to choose which one you would prefer to use. Though they are similar and will give you access to the same materials, there are a few differences to be aware of when making your choice:

• With the exception of books available in the Kindle format (which you can send to your Kindle device from within the app), materials that you access through Libby need to be read or listened to using Libby. If you want to read e-books on an e-reader other than Kindle, or you want to be able to download audiobooks to your computer for transfer to an mp3 player or USB drive, you can only do this through the original Overdrive app.
• The original app is currently the only one that offers features for accessibility and parental control.
• Some libraries make it possible for patrons to suggest books to be added to the library’s Overdrive collection. This feature is not available through Libby; it can only be accessed directly on the website or through the original Overdrive app.
• Though you can switch back and forth between multiple libraries using both the original Overdrive app and Libby, the transition is smoother in Libby. To use multiple cards at the same library in the Overdrive app, you have to change accounts by logging out of one and into the other. In the Libby app, you only need to input your account information once; thereafter, you can simply click back and forth between libraries and between accounts at the same library.

Once you have decided which app you’re going to use, search for it by name in the app store that applies to your device, download, and install.

Registering for Overdrive

You can register for Overdrive on your library’s Overdrive home page or within one of the apps. On the home page, click “Sign In” to begin the registration process. The log-in page offers the option to log in with your library card by selecting your library from the drop-down menu or to log in with Overdrive or Facebook. Signing in with your library card allows you to set up your account at just this one library. Signing in with Facebook or Overdrive makes it possible for you to link Overdrive accounts at multiple libraries so that they can be accessed using just one username and password.

Any option you choose on this page will prompt you to provide some registration information in order to set up your account. In all cases, you will need your library card number, and if required by your library, your library card PIN. (Your PIN is typically issued at the time you receive your library card. If you are prompted to provide your PIN and you don’t know what it is, contact your library for assistance.) If you choose to sign up through Overdrive, you will also be asked for an email address. Signing up through Facebook requires that you have a Facebook account and that you know the username and password.

If you choose to use Libby, the app will walk you through the initial log-in process with lots of easy-to-follow on-screen prompts. Even after you have input your library card numbers and begun to use the app, you can still access this tutorial by clicking on the Libby icon (it looks like a girl’s head) in the upper right-hand corner, and selecting “Set up Libby” followed by “Meet Libby (Again).” Also accessible by clicking on the Libby icon is a newly added option to “Learn Libby,” clicking on which brings up easy-to-understand tips for getting the most out of the app.

The original Overdrive app does not walk you through the set-up process, which can be intimidating at first. To access the various menu options available, you will need to click on the three horizontal lines on the upper left-hand side of your screen. To add a library to the app, select Manage Libraries. To log into your main Overdrive account (which is affiliated with your email address rather than one specific library), click “Account.”

Browsing and Searching the Overdrive Collection

Once you are registered to use Overdrive, you are ready to find some e-books and audiobooks to enjoy. Though the look and feel of the user experience varies slightly depending on whether you are using an app or browsing the collection on your library’s Overdrive website, the process is basically the same. In all instances, you will view your library’s Overdrive collection on the web, either in your computer’s web browser, or using your app as your browser.

In the Overdrive app, you access a library’s collection by clicking on the three horizontal lines in the upper left-hand corner, and then selecting the name of the library. In the Libby app, you click on the Libby icon in the upper right and select the library whose collection you wish to access. Both of these actions take you to the Overdrive home page for the library you have selected.

Once you have the Overdrive home page in front of you, there are a variety of ways to search for materials you might like to borrow:

• Check out the main page. Your library typically has control over what is shown on its Overdrive home page. Often libraries will use this space to highlight topics of local interest, books that have won regional or state awards, community reading challenges, summer reading themes, holiday celebrations, etc. If you don’t have a specific title in mind, this can be a good starting point. (In Libby, this shelf does not display whether the items shown are currently available. On the website and in the original app, you will be able to see a “borrow” button if the item is available, and a “place a hold” button if it is checked out.)
• Browse by category. On the Overdrive website and in the Overdrive app, there are menus across the top of the page to help you easily browse the collection according to subject, collection, audience, language, and format. These same menus can be accessed in the Libby app by clicking on Explore in the upper right-hand corner.
• Search for a specific title. If there is a particular item you are hoping to borrow, type in the title (or author) to find out whether it is available. Advanced search options can be found by clicking “advanced” beneath the search bar on the website or in the original Overdrive app, or by clicking “more options” under the search bar in Libby.

Items that are available to be checked out immediately appear in your search results with a “borrow” button beside them. Items that are already checked out will have “place a hold” buttons instead. If you prefer to see only the books that are available for you to borrow at this moment, you can filter your search results so that only checked-in titles appear. In the original app and on the website, this filter is a link in the sidebar (“Available Now.”) In Libby, you can opt to see only books that are available now under “Preferences,” which is clearly displayed on a horizontal bar on every page within the Overdrive catalog. Just don’t forget to remove this preference in the event that you want to see books that are checked out now, but on which you might want to place a hold.

Borrowing Overdrive Materials

Your local library determines how many digital items you can borrow from the Overdrive collection at one time, but you can decide on the length of your loan period by selecting either 7, 14, or 21 days. At the end of your loan period, the item automatically expires, but you will be prompted to renew (if no one is waiting) or place a hold (if there are other patrons in the queue) as your time gets close to running out. You can also return an item early if you finish with it before your loan ends, thereby freeing up a spot to borrow another item.

The Overdrive Reading Experience

Though it is possible to access Overdrive materials on other devices, the reading experience on the web and in the apps is the best among the e-book and audiobook apps available to libraries.

For audiobooks, the listening experiences on the web and in Libby are identical. The audio player has many excellent features which allow you to:

• Increase the playback speed in increments of .05x, all the way up to 3x.
• Set a sleep timer to turn the book off at the end of the current chapter or at the end of a period of time up to two hours long.
• Bookmark and make notes as you listen.
• Select a specific chapter within the book.
• Return to your previous place if you have jumped ahead and wish to go back using the “History” function.
• Toggle the display to see how much time is left in the entire book and the current chapter, how much time has elapsed since the start of the book, or what percentage of the book you have completed.
• Select a precise timestamp within the audiobook by simply dragging your finger or mouse.
• Swipe or drag a mouse across either side of the screen to rewind or fast-forward a few seconds.

Listening to audiobooks on the Overdrive app is similar, but the player doesn’t have as much flexibility. You can still change the playback speed, but only up to 2x. The sleep timer will only stay on for a maximum of 99 minutes, and there is no option to have it turn off at the end of a chapter. It is more difficult to see each individual minute as it goes by, so rewinding and fast-forwarding is not as precise, but you can skip forward or backward 15 seconds at a time with the click of a button. You can move forward or backward one whole chapter in the same way.

Libby and the Overdrive website also use the same exact e-book reader. Similarly to the audio player, the reader has a timeline at the bottom of the screen that makes it easy to find a precise location in the book. You can also create bookmarks (though without the option to make notes) and easily return to a previous location within the book after jumping forward or backward by using the “History” function. The e-reader allows you to toggle between the percentage of the book that has been completed, the current page number, and the number of pages left in the chapter. (Note: these page numbers change to accommodate the actual number of pages you will read depending on whether you set the reader to display text in one column or two.) Other Reading Settings include options for font (publisher’s default, OpenDyslexic, etc.), the lighting (bright, sepia, or dark), and the size of the text. It is also possible to search your e-book for specific words and phrases.

Again, the Overdrive app is similar, but with less functionality. There is no timeline at the bottom of the screen, and the only information shown is the current page number. You can see the percentage of the book you have read by clicking on that, but it brings up a box in the center of the screen instead of toggling the same text to display new information. The table of contents does not list every chapter, even in books where a full table of contents shows up on the web and in Libby. There are, however, a variety of settings that can be changed to suit your preferences: brightness, color scheme, font size, font style, landscape columns, line spacing, margins, orientation, screen timeout, default layout, page animation, page with volume keys, and fullscreen mode.

More Help with Overdrive

For further assistance with Overdrive and Libby, visit these links:

• Overdrive Help:  https://help.overdrive.com
• Get Started with Overdrive by Tri-County Community College: thttps://tricountycc.libguides.com/overdrive

A Guide to Digital Media Apps at Your Public Library: Introduction

As I’ve become more and more of a digital reader of both ebooks and downloadable audiobooks, I have become interested in comparing and contrasting all of the different apps libraries use to make these materials available to their patrons. Having spent a lot of time using trial and error to learn how these apps work, I thought it might be helpful for others to have access to everything I have learned. Thus, this guide to using digital media apps was born.

This guide covers the four most popular digital media apps used in public libraries: Overdrive (including the Libby app), Hoopla, RB Digital, and Cloud Library. Since each of these apps has its own extensive help documentation, I have avoided going into too many technical details. Rather, I have tried to provide an overview of the capabilities of each app and to highlight as many of the important or unique features as I can. 

In almost every instance, my comments in this guide are based on my own firsthand experience using these apps. In a couple of cases, I was limited by the availability of certain formats or features at my local libraries, and I sought out screenshots from libraries’ websites to help inform my descriptions of these. If I have given advice that runs contrary to what you have experienced using these apps, please let me know, as I want this to guide to be useful to users of many libraries, and not just the ones I happen to use. 

As requested by my Instagram followers, this guide will be available both as a series of blog posts and as a .PDF booklet. The series of blog posts will publish this week, and the .PDF booklet will be released after the fourth and final section of the guide has gone live.

All posts will be linked here as they are published:

Part One - Overdrive & Libby
Part Two - Hoopla Digital
Part Three - Cloud Library
Part Four - RB Digital 

#YearOfHarryPotter: Half-Blood Prince, Chapters 20-23

Last week's chapters in Half-Blood Prince were: Chapter 20 ("Lord Voldemort's Request"), Chapter 21 ("The Unknowable Room"), Chapter 22 ("After the Burial"), and Chapter 23 ("Horcruxes). This post contains many spoilers for this book and the series as a whole.

The most significant scenes in these chapters involve Harry's attempts to retrieve Slughorn's true memory of his discussion with young Voldemort about Horcruxes, his eventual success in getting Slughorn to give up the memory (using Felix Felicis), and the revelations that come about when he shares the memory with Dumbledore.

Though I think the overall idea of Horcruxes is an interesting one (especially given Tom Riddle's penchant for stealing as a child) and though I think finding the four missing ones serves as a great way to structure the plot of book 7, I am still confused about some things. Strangely, the way Voldemort uses Horcruxes is the most poorly explained bit of magic in the entire series. Dumbledore goes so far as to say that he believed the murder of Harry's parents was an attempt to make a Horcrux, but then points out right away that the effort failed. Of course, in book 7, this turns out to be false, as we learn that the last piece of Voldemort's soul resides within Harry. It seems unfair to the reader to have a trusted and beloved character make such a certain statement without sharing any details that might lead to a different conclusion. I don't like feeling that she misled me.

Similarly, it was annoying to have Dumbledore spout so much explanation about the reasons Harry is considered to be the boy the prophecy is about. So many of these details seem to contradict "facts" that had been established in book five and the early parts of this book, almost as though Rowling didn't have the details figured out and then needed to do a little back-pedaling to ensure that her anticipated ending to the series would make sense. This didn't bother me that much the first time around, but I expected things to be clearer during this re-read, and they're really not.

Despite my frustration, through, there are some hilarious lines in this section of the book. One is Dumbledore's line about his difficulty mediating the tension between Trelawney and Firenze: "Divination is turning out to be much more trouble than I could have foreseen, never having studied the subject myself." This is such a "dad joke" moment for Dumbledore  in the midst of an otherwise very serious scene and it made me laugh out loud. The other line is from Chapter 22 in which Slughorn mistakenly refers to Ron as "your poor friend Rupert." This must be a reference to Rupert Grint, who plays Ron in the films.

I only have two more segments of this book to go, and I know the inevitable sadness of the loss of Dumbledore is on its way. I've been dreading it the whole time I've been re-reading, but I know I have to get through it to be able to get to the end of the series, and I'm trying to be pleased that I'm nearly ready to begin book 7.

#YearOfHarryPotter: Half-Blood Prince, Chapters 17-19

My Harry Potter reading assignment for the first week in October was three chapters: Chapter 17 ("A Sluggish Memory"), Chapter 18 ("Birthday Surprises"), and Chapter 19 ("Elf Tails") in Half-Blood Prince. Spoilers below.

Chapter 17 finally introduces Horcruxes. These are such a part of the lore of this series that it's kind of amazing in retrospect to realize how late they are named and explained, especially given that one of them was destroyed all the way back in book 2. I remember being totally intrigued by this idea the first time around, and I'm enjoying revisiting how the clues unfold. I also continue to love the way Rowling uses memory - and the fact that some characters (Slughorn) choose to alter their memories - in Dumbledore's lessons with Harry.

I remembered that Ron fell victim to a love potion around the time of his birthday, but I had totally forgotten that the antidote given to him by Slughorn turned out to be poison! It does seem a little convenient that Harry had this sudden opportunity to use a bezoar after just figuring out what they do in class, but I honestly can't remember how this ends up tying into the story, so it's possible that it's not just a convenient coincidence. I'll have to wait to have my memory refreshed.

Finally, it is incredibly risky to ask Kreacher to spy on Malfoy. I don't remember how this turns out, either, but it seems like a bad idea. I do love any opportunity for Harry to use the Marauders Map, however, and it definitely builds up suspense to show that Malfoy keeps disappearing from the map from time to time.