If you use Hoopla® through the Escondido Public Library, you’ll experience some service changes beginning September 1, 2024:
- We are reducing the number of Hoopla checkouts you can make each month from five (5) to three (3).
- We are implementing a budget cap on our Hoopla service, which means that once the library has spent its budgeted amount on Hoopla checkouts daily, no more checkouts will be allowed for anyone until the next day begins.
We know that Hoopla is a popular service with our patrons, who enjoy checking out ebooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, videos, and music albums from the service. We love offering Hoopla to patrons and will continue doing so. However, to make the service sustainable within the library’s budget, we’ve had to set the new limit described above. These changes were approved by the Library Board of Trustees at their regular meeting on August 8, 2024.
How does Hoopla work?
To fully understand the reason for the new limits, it’s important to know how Hoopla works. Libraries that offer Hoopla agree to pay a fee for each item that patrons check out. Prices vary among items, but generally, an ebook checkout through Hoopla costs the library about $3. Movies and music cost about $1.50, and some eAudiobooks cost as much as $3.99. eAudiobooks tend to be the most expensive category and popular with patrons, so those costs can rise quickly.
Over the past year, Hoopla users have nearly doubled from 450 to just under 900. The increasing popularity of Hoopla has been driving up the library’s cost since we began offering the service in 2020. In 2024, the library’s cost for Hoopla increased by an average of 5% per month. During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Hoopla accounted for only 3% of total checkouts but cost more than 10% of the entire budget for library collections. This fiscal year, Hoopla is budgeted for 6.3% of the overall budget.
Cost controls
We’re thrilled that patrons enjoy Hoopla. At the same time, we must control the library’s costs for a service whose overall expense is influenced by the cost of each checkout and increasing patron use. Consequently, we’re setting a daily cap on our Hoopla service. On any given day, once the library’s cost hits that cap, patrons cannot check out any more Hoopla items until the next day.
Lowering the number of checkouts that individual patrons can make from Hoopla will ensure that more patrons can use the service each month.
Even though patrons are now limited to three Hoopla checkouts per month, many don’t reach that number. For example, in 2024, most borrows were less than 3 downloads. So, we believe the new limits will give the library enough budgetary control without imposing burdensome limits on patrons.
No effect on other services
We want to emphasize that these changes affect only Hoopla and do not affect other streaming or download services such as Libby/OverDrive. No rules are changing for those services.
We hope this post helps explain the reasons for the new Hoopla limits. Thank you for your support of Escondido Public Library. If you have questions about the new hoopla limits, please email us at library@escondidolibrary.org.