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This is Bozeman Public Library’s blog where we showcase behind-the-scenes workings of your library, fun projects we're developing for the community, and reviews about our favorite books and resources.

Post #20: Digital Lending Models
(or why ebooks make us cry)

Imagine with me for a moment. You wake up on the first of the month with a big, relaxing stretch. Birds are singing outside, and the world is bright and wonderful as you climb out of bed. While making a big cup of coffee or tea or other fabulous beverage you suddenly remember – the first of the month means fresh checkouts on the Hoopla app! Rushing to find your phone scattered somewhere amongst the covers, you open the app, pull up the next book in your favorites list, hit the big blue BORROW button, and find an error message:

After a good cry, lamenting that it makes no sense that a service claiming instant and simultaneous access would limit its users, you call the library immediately and explain what has happened and you and the librarian cry together as they explain the complicated, messy world of digital lending models through sobs and tears.

Okay, end scenario. We know you don’t cry that much. This regretful problem happens to many of our users, and in this post I will explain three digital lending models and strategies for using our eLibrary apps to get the most out of your library card. First, a handy infographic:

Our eLibrary apps and platforms come from many different companies and require several different contracts. Part of these contracts detail how users access content, or what we can call a digital lending model. These models describe how many users can download a book for a certain amount of time, on a certain software, and how much it’s going to cost.

In the “One Copy One User” model, one book is provided for one reader for the checkout period. Librarians purchase and select these digital copies just like they purchase each book on our shelves. The Libby app is an example of this model. On Libby, you can place a hold on a very popular title and end up waiting weeks because there are only three copies and fifteen people want to read the book. On top of that, Libby is free to use for most anyone in Montana with a library card, and we are all sharing the same digital copies across the entire state. There are ongoing plans to improve these services and increase the number of copies for popular books, but this is one reason why you can only have 5 checkouts and 10 holds at a given time on Libby. We pay for the digital book once and many users can read it how many times they want (just not at the same time).

Now, back to our Hoopla error. Hoopla and Kanopy (our film streaming service) both provide content by the “Cost Per Circ” model. This means that all users have instant and simultaneous access to a large database of content, but each time someone checks a title out it costs a fee (typically $3.99 on hoopla). In order to provide this great instant service without breaking the bank, we need to set a budget. This budget allows for $100 to be spent by users every day on Hoopla, but that sometimes can mean the money runs out before you are able to check out your book. This is why that error pops up, and you have to try again the next day. Another way we try to make access equitable for our users is through limiting the number of checkouts per month. Your library card gives you 3 checkouts each month so that one person doesn’t spend all the money rereading the Harry Potter books for the tenth time around (we would too).

Finally, some of our favorite apps and platforms allow for unlimited streaming video, articles, and more because the library paid an annual subscription to the service that doesn’t restrict content. This is "Subscribed Access." Stream hours of courses on LinkedIn Learning, make a million crafts on Creativebug, and learn every language you can think of on Transparent Language, all for the same cost for the library.

The best strategy we recommend for using our eLibrary so that everyone can all have quicker access to materials is by shopping around. Search for titles on both Libby and Hoopla to see if it’s a book you need immediately or don’t mind waiting to become available. Take a moment to think a bit longer about whether you’ll finish that checkout on hoopla before you borrow it.

The Bozeman Public Library loves providing these services but we are restricted by the reality of expensive contracts and a rapidly growing community. Our staff is dedicated to continuing these services and finding creative ways to improve your reading experience.

Written by Hannah M. on July 14, 2023