Beginning Sunday, September 1, 2024 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County libraries are making the following changes to Libby and hoopla:

• Reducing Libby holds from 20 to 10 at a time
• Reducing Libby borrows from 20 to 10 at a time 
• Reducing hoopla borrows from 15 to 5 per month  
• Requiring PIN authentication to the Libby sign-in process

Please note that if you have more than 10 holds on digital items on September 1, you will not lose your holds. You just will not be able to add new holds until you are within the new holds limit. 

While the vast majority of patrons will not be impacted by these changes, we know there will be interest in why we need to reduce holds and check-outs.   

Why is this happening? 

We are happy to report that our Libby and hoopla collections are popular! The use of all of our digital collections has continued to increase year over year, increasing by 64% since 2019. This is wonderful news! But with increased use comes increased costs.  

Speaking of costs, many people are surprised to know that libraries often pay a very different price for e-books and e-audiobooks than we do for print books. For libraries, the cost for these formats can be up to three times the cost of the print version. Not only that, library pricing for e-books and e-audiobooks is often much higher than prices for individual consumers.   

Take, for instance, Kristin Hannah’s popular title, The Women. You can see in the chart below the disparity in cost between library and consumer prices.  

 

In addition to the increased price, libraries don’t own the digital books we lend, like we do our print books. Libraries purchase licenses for a set period of time or a set number of checkouts.  When licenses expire, libraries have to repurchase any title we want to continue to make available.  

As a result of the increase in use and high prices, our total spending for Libby and hoopla has increased 51% from 2019. Libraries in Allegheny County are now spending over three million dollars a year for these resources.   

What do holds have to do with the cost of digital books?  

When a hold is placed it is a signal to the Library that there is demand for that title. To try to keep wait times as short as possible, we buy additional licenses based on the number of holds. Believe it or not, adding additional copies to meet demand is actually the largest portion of our eResources budget!  

Looking at The Women again, we would need to spend nearly $17,000 to meet current demand for the e-book, and even more as interest continues to build. 

 

The good news is, we anticipate that reducing the number of holds allowed in Libby will reduce wait times and allow us to redistribute funds to increase the number of titles available in the collection.  

Hoopla doesn’t have holds. Everything is available all of the time. Why are you making changes to it? 

One of the great things about hoopla is that everything is available and there is no waiting! That’s because instead of buying licenses, we pay for each borrow.  We’ve seen a remarkable increase in use and our hoopla costs are now four times what they were in 2019! Unfortunately, we just are not able to sustain the same level of service.  

Why are you implementing PIN authentication in Libby?  

Implementing PIN authentication adds an additional layer of security and reduces the likelihood of fraudulent library card use.  

What if I don’t know my PIN?  

You can reset your PIN here. If you don’t have or remember the email address associated with your library account, contact your local Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh or Allegheny County library.  

How do I track what I want to read without placing holds, though? 

We want you to keep reading! Learn more about how to manage your digital reading and become a savvy Libby and hoopla user here.