3M Cloud Library News & Updates

3/1/13

Email Notification--Set on Web Account

3M has been working on a way to send email notifications for available holds. You are now able to set the notification option on your web account. Everyone is able to sign in to the web account and set an email notification, regardless of how you use 3M Cloud Library. This button will be added to the software itself soon. Here's what to do for now:

Go to the 3M Browsing Website: http://ebook.3m.com/library/kansas/
Log in with your Kansas Library Card number, using your birthdate as a password (login is on the right side in the black border).
Click on the "My Books" tab if you are not already there.
Select "Account Profile" on the right side (shown outlined in red here).
On the account profile page, the only current option is to set an email for holds!
- Select "Yes"
- Input your email address in the blank!
- Click "Save"

3m web set your email address

NOTE: the Edit button can be used later if you need to update your email address.

6. You will receive a confirmation email from 3M's Software Support team. Click the link in this email to finalize your setup!

2/1/13

Email Notification Option

3M has been working on a way to send you email notifications when your holds are available. We're pleased to report that they have succeeded.

The Apple mobile version of the 3M app has now received an update that allows for the email notifications. The other versions of the software will receive the update as soon as 3M can get them processed. We will post on our 3M news feed through the apps

Apple app users, here is how to turn on your email notifications. We expect the instructions for the rest of the apps to be nearly identical.

Go to My Books.
Select "Account Profile" (bottom right).
Email Notification should be at the top of your profile. Turn this on.
Enter your email address when prompted.
3M will send you a verification email--click the confirmation link in this email to finalize your setup.

If you change email addresses, you will return to this screen to update your email address.

Having trouble after the update?

We have had reports that some users are getting a message about the need to input an Adobe ID after this update. Please uninstall/reinstall your 3M app to solve this, part of your update did not process correctly. Uninstalling the app will not lose any of your checkouts and holds--this is saved on the 3M server. Your books will be available after you reinstall.

How to uninstall an Apple app:

on your home screen, tap and hold down on the 3M Cloud Library app.
When the app begins to wiggle, it will have an X button on the upper left corner. Tap this.
Confirm that you want to delete the app.
Tap the home button to exit this mode.

Reinstall your app:

Go to the App Store app.
Search for "3M Cloud Library." Install this free app.
When installed, open the app. You will need to sign in again with your Kansas Library Card information.

11/1/12

This is the announcement 3M sent the State Library today. Please let us know if you have any questions!

Scheduled Maintenance at 3M Data Center Impacting 3M Cloud Library -November 10, 2012
Dear valued 3M Cloud Library customer,
In order to better serve you, there will be scheduled outage impacting the 3M Cloud Library
system Saturday, November 10th 2012 starting at 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm CST (Central Standard
Time).
Why is this happening?
3M is implementing a major network upgrade to increase our network capacity, which in turn
will make our network even more reliable and faster, in addition to enabling future
expandability as we continue to grow. Due to the nature of this upgrade, it cannot be
performed without an outage. During the times specified, customers may experience sporadic
or no access to the 3M Cloud Library system.
How does this affect my patrons?
Customers will be able to read the books they currently have checked out but will not be able
to browse, search or check out any new materials.

10/4/12

Nook Color, Tablet, and HD/HD+ can now use the Android version of the 3M app. Please search your Barnes & Noble app store to find and install this app.

To learn to use the mobile app, please see the 3M Android page. Text on this page will be updated soon to include the compatible Nooks.

10/01/12

If you are receiving the error message "3MCloudLibrary.exe has stopped working" or the program will not open, etc, please try a full uninstall of the program. Some users have had issues since the upgrade a little over a week ago.

Full Uninstall of the PC App

Windows Uninstall Instructions:

Go to your Start Menu.
Select the Control Panel.
Find "Programs"
Select "Uninstall a Program." The list that comes up may take a minute to pull up. (Windows XP users--this may be called "Add or Remove Programs")
Find "3M Cloud Library" in the list. Click on it once.
Click "Uninstall" or "Remove" (depending on your version of Windows, this could be above the list of programs, or a part of the program's information line).
Follow any prompts your computer gives you to uninstall the program.
Check for a leftover folder from 3M Cloud Library (two sets of instructions below, based on your Windows version):

Hidden Folder--If you have Windows 7 or Windows Vista:

Go to the Start Menu
In the Search programs and files box, enter exactly %appdata% and hit enter on your keyboard. It looked like this on my computer:
This should pull up a list of folders. One will be for the 3M Cloud Library. Delete this folder-this is just where the 3M software saves information. If it had saved some "bad" information, where it was looking to connect in the wrong way, we've deleted that.
Once this is done, close the window you have open, and try reopening 3M Cloud Library. You should have to log in.

Hidden Folder--If you have Windows XP or would like to do this a different way:

Go to "Computer" or "My Computer"
Click on the C Drive (may be called OS C).
Click on "Users" - at this point you may need to click on the name you use to login to the computer. If you are the only one, there is likely just the one.
Inside the specific user's folder, there should be an App Data folder. Click this.
Click on "Roaming"
This should pull up a list of folders. One will be for the 3M Cloud Library. Delete this folder-this is just where the 3M software saves information. If it had saved some "bad" information, where it was looking to connect in the wrong way, we've deleted that.
Once this is done, close the window you have open, and try reopening 3M Cloud Library. You should have to log in, but it should connect again.

Reinstall 3M Cloud Library from this page: http://ebookdownload.3m.com/apps/pc/DownloadPCApp.html

09/25/12

PC Update Released, Hold Issues Resolved

3M Cloud Library released an update for the PC software on Thursday evening. As of today (Tuesday, 9/25/12) we have been able to check out holds normally in our test accounts.

Changes in Version 1.25:

Categories now have a filter so that you can browse only what is available to check out.
Check in button gone -- at this time, you cannot check in from the PC software. If you would like to check in a book early to get it off of your account, please log in at the 3M browsing website and access My Books for this feature. The check-in button will return to the PC app in the future.

The only issue that has come up--some patrons have had to uninstall 3M Cloud Library and reinstall, as their software would not update or continually crashed after the update. Please check that you received the update to version 1.25. The version number of your software is easily checked in the header bar of the software. This image shows the previous version, but it is in the same place:

09/14/12

Holds System Fix - PC App Errors Continue

The holds system fix was applied to the 3M servers, and the mobile access (Apple, Android) is going well. However, people using the PC app are again experiencing holds checkout errors.

The PC App will need an update to solve this problem. 3M has not given us an expected date. In the meantime, please view and check out all of their holds from the 3M browsing website instead. Anything checked out on the website will be available for use in the 3M software the next time it is opened.

3M website: http://ebook.3m.com/library/en/kansas/

08/24/12

Late yesterday 3M Cloud Library techs pushed out a fix to their servers for the holds system. This seems to have worked. You do not need to download an update to your app or PC software, but I would recommend closing/reopening the software or app if you tend to leave it open.

You should see your holds numbers move as they align to be the actual times on the server. Some people may have one final time where a hold says it is available and will not check out. If this happens to you, please put the book back on hold for yourself and report:
• Name & library card number
• Book title/author

To audiobooks@library.ks.gov

We are very sorry that 3M took so long to fix this issue. Please realize that the State Library keeps records of incidents like this with a vendor, and factors deeply in our decisions when contracts are up for renewal. We expect our vendors to be more responsive to problems in the system. Thank you again for all of your error reports. We sent them to 3M and the reports helped them finally solve the problem.

07/25/12

Kindle Note
We have not had any updates on possible Kindle compatibility, though we had hoped to hear positive news by now. If you own a Kindle, please let Amazon know that compatibility with the 3M Cloud Library is important to you by visiting your Kindle's customer service page and using the "contact us" link.

Search Problems / How to find a book to check out right now.
3M development team was working on some upgrades for the search engine in the past week. While they have been doing this you may see spotty search functionality. They are working to fix this. If you use the mobile app and search is not working, please try the Categories tab (subject browse). PC users, please try the Categories tab on the 3M browsing website if your search feature is not cooperating.

3M browsing website: http://ebook.3m.com/library/en/kansas/
• Log in to this website with you Kansas Library Card information.
• May browse & check out on this site, but not read the book via the website. Categories (subject browse) has a handy "show only available" option now.
• Open your mobile app or the 3M software on your computer to use the books you have checked out while on the 3M website.

Note: the PC software has not received the upgrade that allows you to limit Categories to "show only available" yet. The website and mobile apps now have this function. Expect to see this soon.

Ongoing Holds Errors
Holds errors continue to be a problem. Types of errors patrons are experiencing:
1. books available on the holds list fail to check out.
2. hold status indicating "available for checkout in less than 1 day" for more than 24 hours; or book wait time suddenly starts counting up instead of counting down.

3M has been working on this behind the scenes. This week they have been testing their latest fix against the different versions of the app, to make sure that the fix will not break other features. We hope this will be resolved soon. In the meantime, we are attempting to buy even more copies of popular books, so if the holds issue resulted in you failing to get a book there will be less wait when it is resolved. We strive for a ratio of less than 5 on all book titles (example: if there were 30 people on hold for a book, we would purchase at least 6, if not more copies).

06/22/12

Mobile App Update

The Android & Apple mobile apps both received an update within the last few days. Please make sure you get this update.

Android -- version 1.25.8.
Apple -- version 1.25.

If you did not receive this update, or are not sure if you did, go to your app store. You may search for 3M Cloud Library and install the update from there if you missed it.

Instructions for the Apple Mobile app will be updated to reflect these changes within the next few days, and Android-specific instructions will also be available on our main page. Enhancements in this app update:

Categories have received a lot of work. The display is different, and you can now filter to show only books available to checkout right now!
Improvements to book display settings (see Reading a Book on the new Android Instructions page for examples).
Android stability update--some devices (including our Droid) had to clear cache/force stop the app every day to get it to work properly. We have not had to do this on our device since the update. Please let us know at audiobooks@library.ks.gov if you are still experiencing this type of error. We need to know your device type and version of Android on your device to make a report to 3M.

Ongoing Holds Issue-Update

3M has told us that they think they have the fix. They are currently testing the fix to make sure it will go well when released. We would not want the holds fix to break something else! We will post again when they have applied the fix to the system, and will post instructions if there is anything you need to do.

06/12/12

Find below an update on the Holds Issue, but also information about what is otherwise going on behind the scenes for the beta.

Ongoing Holds Issues

Holds errors continue to be a problem. More facets of this problem have become apparent since it began. Types of errors:
1. books available on the holds list fail to check out.
2. hold status indicating "available for checkout in less than 1 day" for more than 24 hours; or book wait time suddenly increases from 2 days to 3 (or similar).
3. notice that book transferred to a device (like a Nook) is still available to read on a device past the 14 day checkout period, when it should not be.

While the error #1 has been limited to patrons using the PC software, patrons using the mobile app are now beginning to report error #2. Patrons are not experiencing issues checking out books available, it is only the books on hold. The 3M tech team believes that they have found the root of the problem, and are working on a solution. Part of the solution will have to be an update to the PC software.

If you have hold issues, you might:

1. If you have been using the 3M Cloud Library on both PC and mobile device, always check your books out on the mobile app. No checkout failures have been reported through the mobile app yet.

2. Try checking out the books via the 3M browsing website here: http://ebook.3m.com/library/en/kansas/ You should be able to log in, browse, and check out books on this website. If you check out a hold here, the book should be in your checked-out items the next time you open the 3M software on your computer.

If you experience one of these holds errors, please send a report with this information to audiobooks@library.ks.gov. This allows 3M to look at the activity logs on their server.
• Kansas Library Card number
• Date of error
• Time of error-the more exact the better (checkout fail only).

Overall 3M Beta Progress

Technical Progress

Kindle Note
We have not had any updates on possible Kindle compatibility. Amazon had asked to postpone discussion with 3M until June (back in March) so we are hoping to receive more information soon. If you would like to be put on a notification list for when we have more information, please email us at audiobooks@library.ks.gov

Coming Soon
◦ Android app upgrades
◦ Categories tab-ongoing work, more improvements.

Coming this Summer
◦ Shelves tab-more options! The Shelves are to be a display area for newer books, but currently we have to make those manually one book at a time. As you can imagine, that is difficult to keep up with. For example, in the future we should be able to set a shelf to be the "50 newest mysteries added" or similar.

Mac computer app-no date released yet.

Transferred Materials Progress
733 total titles from Random House, Sourcebooks, HarperCollins.

More transferrable titles (from our previous ebook library) will be added to the library as 3M processes more publisher catalogs. They have recently completed adding Harlequin, Baker, F+W Media, and IPG.

Purchasing Progress
The State Library is at the end of our fiscal year. Remaining funds for this year were used to purchase extra copies of popular items, to help cut down the wait list. However, many of our administrative reports are also still in development, so sometimes the popular books are difficult to isolate. If you encounter a book with a high holds time, we will look into more copies for our next purchase. This can also be reported to audiobooks@library.ks.gov

05/16/12

Ongoing Holds Checkout Issue

Our account is currently experiencing a glitch in the checkout of holds. Normally, when a book comes available on 3M Cloud Library you should have 72 hours to check out that book. Some users are receiving the error message of: "Could not check out the book. Maybe because the book was already checked out by another patron."

3M has been looking into this problem and taking it very seriously (they have added more staff to the team working on this problem. It is not happening to everyone, and those people are not experiencing it on every hold that comes available. The cause of the problem remains elusive. If you experience this error, please send a report with this information to audiobooks@library.ks.gov :
• Kansas Library Card number
• Date of error
• Time of error-the more exact the better.

This information allows 3M to look at the activity logs on their server.

Shelves & Categories Update

"Shelves" is the first area you see on the 3M Cloud Library. This is supposed to be a display area and is made by the library. Unfortunately, most of the shelves must be made manually (books must be loaded one at a time to each shelf) at this time. As you can imagine, this is difficult to keep up with, and sometimes it is easier to detele a shelf and start over instead of trying to edit it. What we have decided to do for now:

Continue the two system-generated shelves available at the top--the "Newly Added" which contains newest purchased or transferred books, and a "Popular" shelf. We have updated how these generate results, and the books inside the "Popular" shelf should update more frequently than before.
Genre spotlight shelves--based on what has been purchased in the last 2-3 months. These are not meant to contain all books in that subject/genre, but to highlight types of books we have. If you see an author on the shelf that you are interested in, please use the search feature to find all of the books we have by that author.

Categories (subject browse) continues to receive work behind the scenes at 3M, so if you see a book in "Mystery" and it is not a mystery, realize that work is ongoing. Once Categories are complete you will be able to browse all books in a specific area. We will then have more flexibility in what types of Shelves we can create easily. For example, we would like to set up shelves that could show you "the 25 newest books in Category: Romance" or "Fiction Spotlight: Historically-Set Mysteries."

04/06/12

There is now a portal for downloading the 3M Cloud Library software (for mobile and PC) as well as a website for checking out the books (you can finish downloading them at home). http://ebook.3m.com/library/en/patrons/

3M released an update to the 3M Cloud Library app for PC yesterday. Please be sure that you are install this upgrade. The top bar of your computer software should say it is Version PC - 1.24 (etc) now. Updates to the video tutorials and screenshots in the written instructions will be made as needed. Changes you'll notice:

Your library card number now shows in the upper right side of the menu bar. This will help you realize who is logged in if you share your computer with others.
Do not want your reading history saved? You can clear this at your discretion. Go to My Books -> Reading History and you will see the red "Delete Reading History" button.

03/28/12

Computer Access Release-PC version

3M still did not have an accessible place for their computer app software to download, but we were allowed to put the installation files up on our own server. This is temporary until their software download page is ready. A tutorial page on how to use the computer app has been completed, along with two short videos. It can also be reached from the main Kansas EZ Library page. http://www.kslib.info/digitalbooks

This software is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7. The Mac version is still in development.

Known Issues

Not all Cloud features are working properly yet. The 3M Cloud Library is supposed to allow you access to your checked out books, on all versions of the app, throughout your checkout period. For now, if you use both versions of the app, please check out the book on the version of the app you intend to use it on. This means if you intend to transfer a book to your Nook (or other ereader) you should check it out on the computer version of the app.

Realize that regular ereaders (Nook, Sony) will save your place in the book on that reader, but cannot communicate what page you are on to the 3M Cloud Library apps.

Adobe Authentication Issue: some librarians and power-users may run into an Adobe ID authentication problem. Adobe IDs can only be used on 6 devices total (this is computers, ereaders, tablets, etc). The 3M Cloud Library mobile apps generate an Adobe ID for you. It is a code based on the library card number used to log in to the app. The computer app may use your personal Adobe ID or the system-generated one based on your situation. If you test a lot of devices you may run up against this issue. Once you hit your limit of 6 you will suddenly be unable to get the 3M Cloud Library to work with device #7, and the reason will not be clear. We will be working on support solution documentation for this issue.

Mobile App Report

Mobile access for Apple device users continues to go well. Some Android device users are still experiencing errors, despite an upgrade to the 3M Cloud Library app for Android. If you are experiencing issues, please see our help section for 3M Cloud Library. If the solution there does not work, please follow the instructions for reporting an issue.

How You Can Help!
We need a list of compatible devices for both the mobile app and the computer app. If you are having success with a device on either version of the app, please let us know. Android mobile app users-please give us your device name and the version of Android on your device. Please email your findings to audiobooks@library.ks.gov

Kindle Update

In a webinar this week, 3M told the beta participants that Amazon had asked to postpone further conversation about Kindle compatibility until June. As we have more information this will be posted.

03/07/12

An update is available for both versions of the app today. Changes you will see:
--Channels, the first tab of the app is now called "Shelves" instead.
--Categories now show only content owned by the library, and will not show you an empty space if we do not currently have any books for that subject area. iPad/iPod/iPhone users: update your app as normal.

Android users: if you were having severe problems, you may wish to uninstall the app and then reinstall from the Android Marketplace. At the State Library we were experiencing just a few issues with our device. We just ran the update, and had to clear our device cache and reboot the device to get the updated app to open properly.

03/06/12

The Android app update is unexpectedly delayed. The Android Marketplace sent the update back to 3M asking for a modification. At this time 3M does not have a handle on how long this will take to accomplish. We will continue to update you on this issue, and will post when we know more.

03/02/12

The Android app update that was released last Friday has still not posted to the Android Marketplace. We are watching for it and will post an update on our website and the 3M Cloud Library app when it is available, so you do not have to check everyday yourself. Reason for the update: there are a lot of versions of Android out there on a lot of different devices. While 3M did test their app before publication, some issues did not become obvious until your wide variety of devices were using the app daily.

02/23/12

Computer App Access--Progress

As you know, 3M has been behind on releasing the full access to the ebooks library. The computer app (the software that will allow you to download & transfer a book to your ereader) has now entered the final test stage. Techies at the company believe they have solved the ongoing glitch that delayed its release. As soon as the final testing phase is done, the computer app and our full 3M Cloud Library product will be available. Our 3M Cloud Library has set the release date to March 9, as this gives them the appropriate time to complete the testing and setup of our full product. When asked how sure they are of this, they are reasonable certain that all will be finished by that day.

Mobile App Notes

Android App Update--some Android users have been experiencing persistant use problems. 3M is releasing an update to the app Friday, 2/24/12, and all Android users should download it. We do not know if this app will be available in the marketplace Friday or Saturday. Please check for updates. If your use problems have been severe, you might want to reinstall the app entirely.
Categories Being Fixed--Categories are to be our "subject browse" on the 3M Cloud Library. This tab had not been working properly--it was showing ALL books in the 3M ebooks catalog instead of just the books owned in our library. Now the categories will only show books we own. Categories that do not have any books in them yet will look like they are continually loading. 3M will be running a process that will hide all empty Categories and SubCategories soon.

02/02/2012 Beta Progress Update

Computer App Access--Hold Up

3M Cloud Library will use Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) in the background of their computer access software. Integrating ADE means the 3M computer software can transfer to your ereader (Nook, etc). If you have used ADE before, you know that it requires that you sign up with an Adobe ID and authorize your device the first time you try to transfer a book through the program. This is the part holding up the software release. The technical team is attempting to make the software provide the login and authorization to ADE so the transfer will go through.