Director’s Thoughts – 8/16/2023

Today I want to talk about eBooks and libraries. Libraries have a tumultuous relationship with publishers when it comes to eBooks. And I know, it’s easier to have a Kindle Unlimited, Audible, or Scribd subscription when you’re waiting for your hold on those bestsellers. But, I want to take the time to explain how eBooks work in a library setting, so you can better understand why you have to wait for that hold and why it’s often not immediately available!

I was extremely resistant to eBooks for years. Not necessarily for other people, but I always thought I preferred reading a physical book. But, the convenience of eBooks is what sold me. When I travel, I either have to take multiple physical books which requires me to have space (and strength) or I bring my Kindle and have almost unlimited access to as many titles as I want. And more and more, I enjoy reading on my Kindle Paperwhite at night. It’s lightweight, and I can turn off the rest of the lights in the room to signal to my body it’s time for bed. Plus, the Paperwhite doesn’t use a backlit screen like a computer, tablet, or phone, so it’s easier on the eyes and feels more like reading a printed page.

Let’s start at the very beginning (and yes, that’s a Sound of Music reference…)

And just a note before we actually get started, when I say eBooks, I’m mainly talking about actual digital copies of physical books, but I’m also talking about digital audiobooks too.

OverDrive

Many libraries offer their patrons access to OverDrive. If you’re unfamiliar with OverDrive, you might be more familiar with their app, Libby. On the backend, OverDrive works very similarly to libraries purchasing physical copies of books. Libraries will choose how much funding they can afford to put into purchasing ebooks and audiobooks from OverDrive. Often the budget is broken down into quarters or months and once that money is spent, nothing else will be purchased until the next cycle. (This is no different from purchasing physical copies of materials.) At our library, we run extensive reports to find the most popular materials, things that already have long holds lists, and other items our patrons might like to have access to in a digital format.

eBooks are extremely expensive materials with different ways of purchasing them from OverDrive. For example, the latest James Patterson book, Lion & Lamb released just this week costs $75 as an eBook and $65 as a digital audiobook. A physical copy only costs $20.98 as a hardcover and $14.99 on Kindle. Plus, libraries will only have access to that specific copy of the eBook for 24 months. When the 24 months is up, the book expires and if the library wants another copy, we have to purchase it again.

Publishers create these guidelines to ensure they turn a profit on eBook purchasing at the library level. Their argument is that a physical copy won’t last forever either, so libraries will often have to replace them as well, so they chose to create these limits on how long libraries can access the eBooks they’ve purchased.

Checking Out Digital Material from OverDrive

In terms of actual use, if someone has the eBook checked out, no one else will be able to check that copy out until it’s “returned” to the library. It’s basically the same as a physical copy in the brick-and-mortar library. That $75 doesn’t pay for unlimited use, it pays for a single digital copy.

And it often takes longer for books to be returned to the digital library because many readers don’t return books when they’re finished reading them, rather they wait for the loan to expire and the book is automatically returned at that point. This often leads to longer holds lists for digital material.

Hoopla

Hoopla is another popular platform for library patrons to access digital materials. And Hoopla works in a completely different way that OverDrive does. Hoopla has a pay-per-use model. Basically, this means that as soon as a patron checks out anything from Hoopla, the cost is immediately billed to the library. Because of this model, you’ll often see limits placed on the number of materials you can check out or on the cost of materials that can be checked out.

The average cost of materials checked out from Hoopla is about $2.25 per item. It doesn’t seem like much, but the monthly bill can rise quite quickly. For example, the library I work at allows 5 checkouts per month per patron barcode. This allows us to stay within the budget we have for this specific resource. Unfortunately, the more popular this resource becomes, the more it costs for a library.

cloudLibrary

I’m not as familiar with the cloudLibrary platform as I am with some of the other options because I haven’t worked in a library that uses it before. I believe this is similar to the one copy/one user model of OverDrive requiring public libraries to purchase digital copies for patrons to access.

Barriers for Use

The biggest problem with accessing eBooks at the library is that specific publishers will only work with specific platforms which means you can’t always find what you’re looking for as a librarian and as a patron. It can also be very difficult to access some eBooks on specific devices – Hoopla currently doesn’t work on Amazon devices and it depends on what device you have on how you can access the resources. Again, the publishers and eBook platforms don’t always make it easy for patrons to instantly access digital materials which leads many patrons to use subscription services rather than turning to their public library.

Using Your Library

If you didn’t know that you can access eBooks from your public library, I’d definitely check into it. Your library may also have access to things like Comics Plus for graphic novels, comics, manga, anime, and more, or Kanopy for classics, documentaries, and indie films.

All you need for most of these resources is a current library card, so make sure you have yours in hand and check out your library’s website. You can also check with your library’s staff to see if you can get a library card from other libraries in your state. Some places like the Free Library of Philadelphia offer digital cards to anyone who resides in the state of Pennsylvania. This access opens the door to even more great content!

And if you like what your library offers in digital content – let them know! The more information we have about the community we serve the better. If you’re looking for something specific, ask – libraires are notorious for finding information, and they might just be able to find what you’re looking for!