3M Apple App
3M Mobile App for Apple Devices
The 3M Mobile App for Apple allows you to checkout, download, and read ebooks directly on your Apple mobile device without the need to transfer these books through a computer.
Compatibility: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch with iOS 3.2 or later.
Current Version: 1.25 (released 6/21/12).
Written Instructions:
These instructions were made using screen shots from an iPad. Please realize that if you are using a smaller device you may need to scroll within the app to view some buttons/features.
- Getting Started
- Overview of App Features
- Lending Periods, Limits
- Searching/Browsing for a Book
- Check Out a Book
- Reading a Book
- Holds
- Return a Book Early
- Reading Multiple Books & Using More Than One Device
- Information for Blind/Visually Impaired Users
- Log out
Getting Started
1. Download the 3M Cloud Library app to your device. You have two options for doing this:
- Open your App Store app and search for "3M Cloud Library." Once you have found it, install the app.
- Visit the 3M Download Portal on the device for a direct iTunes link to install the app.
When downloaded to the device, the app icon looks like this.
2. Open the app to set it up for your initial use (should only have to do this once). Answer each field!
Select State/County-pick KS from the menu.- Select Library--for Kansas, there is only one Cloud Library, but you must select it to continue. It is named "State Library of Kansas - Capitol Building."
- Enter Your Library-ID--tap here to enter your 6-digit Kansas Library Card number. At this time your regular public library card number is not compatible with the new system. If you need a Kansas Library Card, please visit your public or school library to get one.
- Enter Your Library-Pin--this is your birthdate in MMDDYYYY format. Example: January 1, 1980 should be entered as 01011980 or 01/01/1980.
- End User License Agreement--open this and tap "agree" to continue.
- Tap the Login button to finalize your setup!
Overview of App Features
The 3M Cloud Library has 4 main pages, accessible through these buttons. Each section is described below.
Shelves
These are the display cases of the library. Currently, we must create all but the "New this Week" and "Popular" Shelves manually (one book at a time). As you can imagine, this is time consuming and the shelves quickly get out of date. This summer we will have more options for shelves, so these will improve dramatically.
To browse all of the books in a Shelf, tap List View (left image, circled in green).This brings you a page that is easy to scroll through of the books. Each book's checkout status is shown on the page. Note that you can change how the list is sorted (right image, button circled in red). It defaults to sorting by title. Tap the "back" button (circled in pink) to return to the main Shelves page from list view.
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Shelves Main Screen
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Shelf List View
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Categories
Categories are still a work in progress (mostly categorizing books properly, working on slowness issues). When complete, you will be able to browse the entire collection by subject. This has become much easier with update to version 1.25.
Currently in the Android app, a category is shown by the cover of one book in that subject and the title of the category. Note that Categories has a Filter button (left image, circled in red). Tapping this allows you to limit to browse only books available for checkout right now. Opening a Category, such as Fiction, allows you to then browse in the sub-categories or choose to "show all" within a main category (right image).
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Categories Main View: Filtered for Available
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Sub-Category View: Fiction
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Search
The search is a simple one for now. Try a one-word search for best results. Shown below is part of a search screen. The keyword "murder" was searched. Note that you can sort the list of results (circled in red). Advanced search (circled in yellow) allows you to opt to only see books that are currently available for checkout in your searches. This was turned on for the purposes of this search. Please note that if you switch on "available only" it will stay on! You will need to switch this off later if you want to do a regular search for a particular book.
My Books
This is your account screen. The My Books screen has an area that shows what books you are reading, the books that you have on hold, and books on your wishlist.
Currently Reading area has the wood paneled background. It will show the books you have currently checked out and how many days are left on the checkout. Clicking list view (circled in red) shows the checked out items as a list, and is one of the places to check in a book early.
Holds will always estimate how long of a wait you have on your books. For more about holds, see the section on Holds below. The holds section on the My Books tab will always show the three books closest to checkout. Tap the "show all" button (circled in green) to view the full list of your holds.
User Data Bar
Wish List is an area to save books that the library does not have yet. If you stumble across a book that is suggested as a similar book to your checkouts, but we do not have, you may add it to the wish list. If the library purchases that book you will be notified by the system. This wishlist is grayed out because nothing has been saved to it.
Reading History preserves what you have read, and any ratings you have applied to those books.
Message Center will be a place that you can read notices and updates from the library, and notifications of items available on your holds or wishlist (if you have not yet seen them).
Account Profile only shows that you are signed up with the State Library of Kansas Cloud Library, but it is also where you can "Change Library Identification." Tap this to return to the login page, where a another person could sign in. This will only be necessary if you share your mobile device with another person.
Lending Periods, Limits
Checkout period is 14 days. Please realize that you can return your books early. Please return your book when you are finished so it can be used by another. If you do not return early, the book will disappear from your account after 14 days.
Checkout limit is five. You can have 5 books checked out at once!
Holds limit is ten. You can have up to 10 books on hold at a time. Please realize that with the checkout limit this could cause a bind if you have multiple books come ready at once. You will have to decide which you are most interested in if this happens.
Holds grace period is 3 days. You have 72 hours to check out a book once it becomes available to you. After that time, it will pass to the next patron.
Search/Browse
Currently, the Shelves section goes quickly out of date. If you are looking for something to check out right now, we recommend using Categories or Search.
Categories (subject browse)
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Search
Examples of a keyword:
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Check Out a Book!
When you have found a book you are interested in, tap on the book's cover. This will pull up the Book Details page. Note that you can view a summary. Tap the "Show More" to see the full summary and a list of suggested titles.
From here click the green "checkout" button to check out this book. If the book is currently checked out, it will be a gray button to place a hold instead.
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Immediately after clicking Checkout, the My Books page comes up. The new book will appear on in the Currently Reading list, and a blue bar will move across the bottom of the book cover. When this is complete, the book will open so you can begin reading immediately. Typically a book takes less than a minute to download. The book has been checked out to you for 14 days. |
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Reading a Book
Turning Pages: tap the edges!
Tap on the right edge of the page, or swipe towards the left from the right edge to proceed through the book. To back up, do the same action from the left edge.
Book Options: tap the center.
Tap the center of your book page to bring up the display options menu. All menu options have been circled in different colors for these instructions.
Main Menu
RED: Close book, return to My Books Screen.
GREEN: Book details page. Access the summary, table of contents, bookmarks, similar books list. There will also be an option to check in this book.
ORANGE: Display settings (this opens a sub-menu, see below).
PURPLE: Search within the book. Works reasonably well by keyword.
YELLOW: Bookmarking / notes feature. Tap this to bring up a note that looks like a Post-it (3M also manufactures Post-its). You may leave the note blank to set a generic bookmark, or enter notes. Bookmarks are accessible later through the Book Details screen (circled in green).
Display Settings Menu|
Font Size: use the A- to shrink the text, A+ to increase. This book was set at smallest text when this image was taken, that is why the A- is grayed out. Margin Size: use these buttons to increase or decrease the amount of white space around the border of the book pages. Brightness (pointed out with pink arrow): move the dot left or right on the slider to find the most comfortable screen brightness. Night View: tapping the empty box for this feature will invert the colors of the screen (black background, white text). Some people find this setting more comfortable for reading in the dark. Lock Orientation: if your device is touchy, and rotates the screen at the smallest tilt, turn on Lock Orientation. The book will not rotate while this is on. |
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Holds
When a hold is placed, the progress of a hold is shown on the My Books screen. It estimates the wait period for a book based on the number of people ahead of you in the list, the number of digital copies of that book the library owns, and the maximum checkout period of 14 days. Example: if the wait is 32 days, you know that someone has it checked out right now, and there are two people ahead of you. The math: 14 days x 2 = 28 days, so the person that has it now has 4 days left on the checkout.
Notifications: the 3M Cloud Library cannot email you. You must keep track of your holds. If you open your 3M Cloud Library app at least every other day you will be able to catch any book that comes available to you. Remember that a book can be returned early, so the list may move quicker than you anticipate.
Place a Hold
While searching or browsing the collection, any book that is currently checked out by someone else can be placed on hold. These will have gray hold buttons instead of the green checkout buttons shown on currently available books.
Manage Your Holds
Want to view all of your holds? Decide you do not want a book on your holds list anymore?
On the My Books tab, tap the "Show All" (left image, circled in green). This will bring up the full list of books on hold (right image). Holds can be easily removed from this screen.
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My Books: Hold List
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Full Holds List View
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Hold Available
When a hold comes available, the hold-wait countdown will be replaced with a green "Check Out" button. Tap this and finalize your checkout.
Returning a Book Early
If you are finished with a book, please return it. This will make the book available for the next person to use. Here is one way to do this:
On the My Books screen, click on the "list view" button (circled in red).
This will bring up the list of your currently checked out books. Click the red "Check In" button next to the book you are finished with. The app will ask you to confirm this check in.
Multiple Books or Multiple Devices
Reading Multiple Books at Once--The Cloud Library is supposed to save your place when you close a book. Some users are having trouble with this feature. You may set a bookmark to be certain of finding your place again.
Reading on Multiple Devices--The Cloud Library is supposed to save your place in your book, so you can pick up where you left off on another device. Please realize that it will not be perfect. Devices do not have the same page size (more text fits on the screen of a tablet than a smartphone). Set up your account on the other device as above. Open your account, and select your book. The book will need to download into this new device.
When finished reading for the day, always be sure to close the book and return to the My Books screen. This should set your progress in the book. You could also set a bookmark manually to be certain. For more on bookmarks, see "Reading a Book."
Using 3M on both Mobile App & PC--you should now be able to open the book in both versions of the app. As above, realize that the display between reading the book on the computer and your mobile device is different.
Information for Blind/Visually Impaired Users
Many users have noted that the largest text size available on the 3M Apple App is not large enough for their reading needs. 3M is aware of this, expect more options in the future. Until then, you may prefer to load ebooks to your iPad through the computer and read them in an app that has more text size options. We have written up how to do this, and tested it with the Bluefire Reader. See our iPad Workaround Instructions here.
Any ereader app that can handle EPUB format and that is authenticated with an Adobe ID should work with this process. We only used Bluefire as it is the one we are already familiar with.
Log Out of the App
It is not necessary for you to log out of the app, unless you share a device with another person. If you need to log out:
Go to the My Books tab. Scroll to the bottom and select "Account Profile."
This will show you the button "Change Library Identification." Tapping this will log you out, and return you to the login screen.
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