A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Library eBooks

a person sitting in the library in front of a shelf of books holds up their phone in a reading position while smiling at the cameraAmong our readers, the popularity of eBooks and digital audiobooks continues to grow, along with some questions about where the library gets the books you can borrow and why there is a waiting list on some titles, but not others. It can be confusing! Read on to get some answers.

OVERVIEW:
The library currently offers online or downloadable eBooks through two services, OverDrive and hoopla. We started with OverDrive in 2009, offering downloadable audiobooks, and then subscribed to their eBook service in 2011. We added the hoopla service, which provides eBooks, audiobooks, music, movies and more, in 2014. OverDrive now also offers digital magazines.


OverDrive/Libby

icon for Libby service
Library pays per license.
You can place holds.

The OverDrive collection, which many of you access through the Libby app, is managed by library staff. Our librarians can select specific titles to add to this collection based on expected popularity. Price and licensing terms, which are set by publishers, are also considered. Items from all major publishers, except Amazon, can be added to this platform. When a license, or “copy” of a book is purchased, only one user at a time can check it out, just like a physical book. The library prefers to purchase perpetual licenses that last forever, but most publishers now choose to sell to libraries licenses that expire after either a set amount of time or a certain number of check-outs. A significant portion of these eBooks must be repurchased every one or two years to remain available to you.

When all copies of a title are in use, you may place a hold on it like you do for a physical book. As the number of holds increases, we purchase more licenses. However, publishers charge libraries a premium for licensing their books, often several times what you would pay if you bought it yourself. While we try to minimize wait times by adding more licenses, these higher prices can make that difficult. For example, an eBook license for Stephen King’s upcoming release” Never Flinch” will cost the library $67.99 and expire after two years. A single downloadable audiobook license for the same title will cost $129.99 and also expire after two years.


hoopla

icon for hoopla service
Library pays per check-out.
Titles always available.

In contrast, library staff do not select the titles we offer on hoopla like we do for OverDrive/Libby. The hoopla service works with publishers to add content and, while we can remove items, we cannot add specific titles. Reading on hoopla also differs from OverDrive in that all items are always available. There are no waiting lists and no holds. Pricing for the library works on a cost-per-circulation model, in which each check-out by a patron incurs a variable cost to the library, usually $0.99 to $2.99 per check-out. Pricing is set by the publishers. Like Libby, the hoopla app is also available for iOS, Android and Amazon Fire devices.


Demand for eBooks

a person sits in a library setting wearing headphones connected to a small tablet and smiling at the cameraDemand for digital materials, especially newly released titles on OverDrive, is very high. DBRL patrons checked out over 676,000 eBooks and audiobooks on OverDrive in 2024, about an eight percent increase over 2023. So far this year, our patrons have placed, on average, 25,000 holds a month. Use of hoopla also saw an eight percent increase in 2024, with patrons checking out over 210,000 eBooks and audiobooks. We are planning and budgeting accordingly in response to this soaring demand. Between these two platforms, the library currently offers over one million eBook titles and 300,000 audiobook titles for digital check-out.

>> Get started with library eBooks and audiobooks.

>> Recommend a book for the library to purchase.