Although it gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marshalltown Public Library will discontinue its subscription to Hoopla – a digital service that provides instant access to books, movies and music – after August 31.
Library Director Sarah Rosenblum and Director of Public Services and Technology Katie Fink said patrons don’t have to pay to use Hoopla, but the library does. Every time someone borrows a book through the program, the library is charged. Fink said fees can range from $0.99 to $3.99, depending on the book publisher.
“We don’t get the content through Hoopla,” she said. “We pay the fee every time it’s borrowed, even if we’ve covered the cost of the book several times over.”
Fink said some of the authors most popular with repeat customers are also not available on Hoopla.
“Only certain publishers are available in the assortment,” she said. “The most popular authors in our adult library are James Patterson, John Grisham and Danielle Steel. These are not available in the Hoopla assortment.”
To cover costs, Fink said they set Hoopla limits on the number of times a book can be borrowed per month. The library started with five Hoopla books per person in 2018, increased that number to 10 during the pandemic, then reduced it again to six.
“When we added Hoopla a few years before COVID, we had some buffer in our budget,” Rosenblum said. “We thought this was a tool that people would like, another way to deliver content. In the first few years, it was $500 or $600 a month, which was doable. During COVID, usage grew exponentially. It went from $500 or $600 a month to $2,000 a month.”
She said that while it is a popular way for users to access content, it is not the best value for the library. The program, which Rosenblum said is a difficult model for public libraries to maintain, is no longer viable.
budget
Budget concerns were one reason for Hoopla’s closure. It is currently unknown whether the library will face further cuts. Rosenblum said they are waiting to meet with incoming City Manager Carol Webb and want to see what action the Iowa Legislature takes in January.
“We’re doing OK,” she said. “We’re running a very lean operation. We’re really trying to keep operations going seven days a week and keep the staff that we have, but I can’t make any promises. It’s tough times. I’m worried about what’s coming out of Des Moines. But I think we’re running a lean operation and doing a great job for the community.”
After the city lost the $250,000 tax when the legislature passed new legislation, Rosenblum said the council replenished the library with Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) funds. However, she said there are many requests for LOST funds.
“I hope the community knows we’re really trying,” Rosenblum said. “For this community, we have a good budget to meet people’s needs, but it’s at the limit right now. If we had to make major cuts, we’d have to look at resources. We hope we’re moving forward.”
One challenge is meeting rising costs on a tight budget. Fink said when she started ordering books for the library in 2018, a new hardcover adult book cost between $13 and $17. Now, a book costs between $17 and $23. The cost of an e-book has risen to $75 for a two-year lease.
“It’s gone up quite a bit,” she said.
Rosenblum said the library tries to find other ways to get quality books at cheaper prices. Sometimes Fink tries to buy books from an online retailer, and half the time the books are not in acceptable condition.
“We try to do a lot to do our best,” she said.
Like all homes and businesses, the Marshalltown Public Library is struggling with rising utility costs. The electric bill was $30,000 a year, now it’s $45,000.
“We haven’t done anything different,” Rosenblum said. “We’re actually three hours shorter than we used to be. The price of gas has also gone up quite a bit. That’s $9,000. I’m worried because electricity is one of those things that gets more expensive every year.”
Libby
Starting Sept. 1, the Marshalltown library will primarily use the Libby program, which is funded by the state library. Rosenblum said Libby is comparable to the library receiving a physical copy of a book.
“It’s a copy, a license,” she said. “You want to read ‘The Crawdads Song,’ but there are two people in front of you. It’s like the printed book. So Hoopla was good for instant gratification. We all like instant gratification.”
Fink said the Libby program will also give users the opportunity to read the books of popular authors, and this will be used by more customers.
“The number of Hoopla users per month was less than the number of people using Libby per month,” she said.
Another aspect of Libby, Rosenblum said, is two ways people can borrow a book. For example, a popular book is “Eruption” by Michael Crichton and James Patterson. There could be 300 people waiting for a chance to read it on Libby, and there are 10 copies in the system. Rosenblum said the MPL will provide a shortcut so readers don’t have to wait long.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years and now it’s all about content,” she said. “How do we deliver content to the user?”
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Contact Lana Bradstream
at 641-753-6611 extension 210 or
