Fairfax County Public Library

Back on July 28, 2017, I did a review called “Hooked on Audiobooks” in which I pointed out many of the advantages of audiobooks and how great a resource your local public library can be as a source of free audiobooks (and ebooks).  Since then I have gone through so many books that I am finding a relative shortage of available popular audiobooks books in the South Jersey Inter-Library system that I have not already “read”.

Audible

My first “solution” was to purchase a 2-year Audible subscription for those books I wanted that were not elsewhere available.  The 2-year plan allows the purchase of 24 audiobooks.  They can be purchased with your 24 “credits” anytime within the 2-year subscription period.  That gives the lowest cost per book.   I have used my Audible subscription to get time-sensitive books like Hilary Clinton’s “What Happened?”  and  Michael Wolff and Holter Graham’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” and books I wanted that were just not available at my local library.

Overdrive

So as to not unnecessarily use up my 24 book quota I researched other possible sources.  The Overdrive App that one uses to access library ebooks and audiobooks can be used with any participating library (I think most libraries use the same app).  You can add all the libraries you belong to, to the Overdrive app.  The problem is most public libraries will only allow local residents to become members.

Non-Resident Membership

For an annual fee, some libraries, allow non-residents to become members for the use of their electronic media.  In shopping for a library, the goal is to find a library with the largest electronic media collection for the lowest price.

Fairfax County Public Library

Fairfax County Public Library (Fairfax, Va) charges a relatively low annual non-resident membership fee of $27 per year.  They have about 10,000 audiobooks.  I find that many books are available in one library but not the other.  Also, books that are on a waiting list in one library may be ready to borrow in another.  In addition, even if a book is on the waiting list in both libraries, the wait may be short in one library and long in the other one.  So having multiple libraries can greatly increase the number and quality of books available to you and shorten the waiting time.  Fairfax County Public Library allows you to borrow the electronic media for 3 weeks, in contrast to the South Jersey Library system which allows you only 2 weeks.  This makes it easier in the event that 2 or more books on hold become available to borrow around the same time.