My e-reader says the library book was delivered, but the book is nowhere

I borrowed an e-book from my public library on Sunday night. The library app said it was delivered to my e-reader. The e-reader showed no new book. Both screens were technically cheerful about the situation.

I refreshed the library, restarted the reader, and borrowed the title again before noticing that I had two email addresses associated with the process. The library card used one address. The reading account on the device used another. Delivery had succeeded, just not to the account I was staring at.

That should have ended the problem, but it revealed a second layer. Some books open inside the library app, while others can be sent to a separate reading platform. “Borrowed” and “available on this device” are not identical states. I had clicked through the delivery choice so quickly that I could not remember which route I selected.

I returned the duplicate loan and stopped pressing buttons. My next steps are to confirm the destination account in a browser, check the device registration, look in the full library rather than only downloaded items, and manually sync once. If the book still does not appear, I will capture the loan record and delivery message before asking the library for help.

The minor tragedy is that I wanted to read for twenty minutes before bed and spent forty minutes managing accounts.

What is the cleanest way to troubleshoot a borrowed e-book without accidentally returning it, duplicating the loan, or changing the wrong account? I would also love to know what labels or habits help when a household has multiple library cards and multiple readers.