Libby, the library app

Hi,
I am beta testing Libby after contacting them some months back. Unfortunately it seems that no progress on Voiceover accessibility is being done in the betas released until now.

I have not testing all features of the app. But everything seems to be working fine here. I didn't even get the message I keep reading about everyone getting. Perhaps this app needs to be upgraded to show its accessibility as of now?

Its actually quite easy to navigate the app. Took me like just a few minutes to learn how to navigate it. Its actually so much better than overdrive that I took overdrive off my phone.

What I like. I don't know if this was available in over drive or not. I don't recall. But in libby apparently for text formatted books you can load them in kindle rather than using libby's reader.

I don't know about the audiobooks. I haven't tried yet.

Anyway all I am saying is that message notifying you that libby isn't accessible is not there now. And the app does seem quite accessible.

Its extremely easy to navigate and I moved back and forth through the different categories.

I love it compared to overdrive personally.

I am not questioning its prior inaccessibility. I am just hoping someone checks the app now and edits the app accessibility ratings here.

First off. I did finally find that message everyone was talking about. Its hidden.

Anyway. I am still finding the app very accessible. Please note I am totally blind and use voice over.

I am not using my eyes or sighted navigation to do this. So for me the app is fully accessible. At least navigating library books and borrowing the text versions. I haven’t tried audio yet.

Ok. So I opened the app.

Went through the setup. Please note that while your going through the setup you have flick to the right to go down further. I have seen this behavior in other apps so it didn’t catch me off guard. After you answer the question just flick right to go down further to the next question.

I had a slight challenge finding the library I wanted. But I just picked the closest library listed to me when I entered in my zip code.

Once that happened I was asked if I had a library card. I tapped on yes. Then I selected my library system which this time its the one I wanted.
I put in my library card number and pin and simply hit continue.

I don’t recall if that is the end of the setup or not. If not its just about.

Once you get through setup it will bring you to a screen with books listed and your navigation options.

This is where it gets a bit blurry for me to explain. But I will try to do my best.

At the top center of the screen is your search text edit box. You simply tap on that as usual and then type in what your looking for.

In my case I typed in Walter Farley and hit go.

It shows there are 6 books by Walter Farley in my library system.

To borrow the black stallion I switched the rotor to links and simply swiped down till I heard Black Stallion link and tapped on it.

Note when I say tap I mean double tap.

Then when that screen comes up I tap on borrow.

This got a bit tricky but basically I tapped on read for kindle. And then I tapped on send to kindle.

These two screens you sort of have to learn the lay out of the screen to get to where you want to be. But once done it opens up an in the app safari window. You log in to amazon. And borrow book from library and it sends it to your kindle. Or kindle app or whatever you are using.

I have not tried borrowing an audio book yet. But I simply use hoopla for that. Unless I find Libby to work there too.

Both limit you on how many books you can read at any given time.

I would say my standing on mostly accessible still fits. Could it be better. Yes. But is it usable. Well. I guess it depends on what you want to do with it. I like Libby I took overdrive off my phone as I was not enjoying the overdrive experience.

While browsing through book categories in Libby you simply go to the top of the screen to navigate back a screen. The app always tells you where you end up. Which is really kind of cool.

I sincerely hope this helps clear up some confusion on Libby accessibility.

I am sure at one time it was inaccessible. I am sure it still has issues. But for some reason I am using it just fine. But I prefer to read my books in kindle app so that may be why.

Have a great day.

I found this app to be way more accessible than Overdrive! That being said, there are some unlabeled buttons, but you can easily figure out what they do. And when I first opened the app, I got a message that said that they were working on improving the app for screen reader users, and that they'd welcome our feedback. And they encouraged us to have patience. And based on what I've seen in my day of playing with it, I think they deserve some kudos.

I tried the Overdrive app, and ended up deleting it in favor of this app. If you use Overdrive, and have had and are having issues, I strongly suggest you get this app and try it. I think you'll be surprised.

Thanks for the navigation tutorial. I borrowed an ebook that was available immediately as an ePub, but had a wait list for the Kindle version. I can read once I'm in a chapter, but navigating between chapters is very much hit and miss. Anyone figure out how to do this, or how to use a different app that can access adobe digital credentials? TIA

All accessibility bugs have been fixed, plus the app was reorganized to make it completely friendly to a VO user. Each screen has a banner with the words "you are at" followed by the name of that screen. Instead of a map where you must pick your city, you can now enter search terms such as a city or zip to locate your local library.
You log in to your library with its bar code and your PIN, and then you see books available at that library.
Libraries do not own their digital collections; they license them on a 2-year basis currently, so if you want to borrow something badly, it's best to do it immediately. You can also put books on a wishlist or on hold, and often are forced to put them on hold if you have borrowers ahead of you in line.
To learn the app, it's good to read the guides on the internet from Overdrive. There's also a lot of tutorial info on Youtube. Without understand how the app works, you might think it has accessibility issues, but it does not. You simply need to learn how to find your library, log in, browse, search, set your loan period and borrow.
In general, you browse through various lists of books, setting filters if you wish. You can borrow both ebooks and audiobooks. Your individual library has a limit of simultaneous books you can borrow, anywhere from eight to twenty at a time. You set the lending period, from 7 to 21 days and you tap "Borrow". After that, you can either stream the book or download it if it's audio. If it is digital, you can read it in the app or get it on a Kindle or in a Kindle app.
Again, lots of tutorials can guide you through this process. Overdrive is the largest purveyor of digital materials to libraries: the middleman between the libraries and publishers, and thousands of offerings are available to borrow for free. This app was notoriously inaccessible for years, but in the past year that's become completely false.
When your lending period is over, the book simply disappears. You can borrow it again of course, or put it on hold if you have borrowers ahead of you. You do get notifications before the book expires.
If due to Libby's previous inaccessibility, you were using the old Overdrive app, you will find it's no longer able to contact its server. Libby is actually easier to use, requiring fewer steps to borrow and read, and it does now work with Braille displays.

It's about time to update my info with my local library, I suppose. 😇

Given bad experience in the past, I did not use it until a few months ago, now it's working quite well. If anything, they overdid the verboseness of some prompts, but can live with this. Totally an option for audiobooks and, less so for textbook. I find it does not remember reading position in read-aloud mode" in a chapter.

The only thing that I would include here is, that this is mainly for individuals in the United States. Not sure if it's available outside of that. I'm not in America, so, yeah it would be nice if this information was included in the details. This way, international members who come across this, are not confused as to why it may not be working for them if they download it

I only listen to audiobooks, I don't read books in text format. But I love Libby as an audiobook player. I actually prefer it over BARD Mobile. I agree, the rating for this app is misleading.