Libby by OverDrive

Great for: e-books, audiobooks, and magazines
Libby logo

Find e-books, audiobooks, and magazines online, anytime on the Libby website, on the Libby app, or through the Library's catalog. With your Jacksonville Public Library card, you can have 10 borrowed titles and 10 holds at a time with no monthly limits. 

Visit Libby Help to watch a getting started video and get step by step instructions.

Borrow ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines to read on your phone or tablet using the Libby app. It's free and easy to get started. You can even send and read your borrowed ebooks to your Kindle reader

# Download the app for mobile devices, Libby

Note: Read about Libby's OpenDyslexic font, adjustable narration speeds on audiobooks, and other helpful features on the Library's Accessibility Services and Assistive Technology page.

# Getting Started with Content Controls

In Libby, titles have one of four Audience Categories:

  • Juvenile
  • Young Adult
  • General Content
  • Mature Content

Content Controls allow users to make fine-tuned choices and/or configure what library content appears in Libby for themselves or for their family based on the intended audience. This can be helpful to parents or guardians who want to make the Libby experience kid-friendly for younger readers, users who are not interested in seeing mature content or even users who are not interested in seeing titles intended for younger audiences. By default, all users are assigned the "Libby for Everyone" preset, where no titles are restricted or hidden. 

You can change this preset or set other Content Controls by going to the in app Menu and selecting Content Controls (under "Settings").

# There are three presets to choose from:

  • Libby for Kids only shows content for Juvenile and Young Adult audiences.
    • General content and mature content is hidden in the Library and Search screens of the app.
    • For very young readers, you can further limit access to Young Adult titles as you see fit.
    • Note: No titles are hidden from the Shelf or Tags screens.
  • Libby for Everyone has no restrictions except if you manually apply mature audience filters.
    • All titles are available but you can fine-tune choices about what content appears.
    • You can choose whether those titles appear in deep search*; if they can be sampled**, borrowed, or placed on hold; and if their cover images are shown.
  • Libby for Grown-ups is for those who borrow "general content" and "mature content" titles only.
    • With this preset, juvenile and young adult titles are hidden in the Library and Search screens.
    • You can optionally re-enable Young Adult content if desired.

If you are sharing a device like a smartphone, tablet or computer, you may choose to lock content controls down with a passkey. Unlike passwords, passkeys use your existing device PIN or biometrics like Face ID or your fingerprint to verify who you are.

Note: If you use Libby on multiple devices, you'll need to set up content controls on each one. Content controls don't sync between devices.

*"Allow in deep searches" allows you to discover titles not currently in our library's digital collection.
**"Allow samples" will show samples of the e-book or e-audio.

Get a Library Card

Jacksonville Public Library card

Read Jax logo