In 2020 everything went digital.
Millions of people worked from home, used Zoom to complete college degrees and communicated with loved ones solely through the internet.
The rest of the world adapted as well, including libraries. Circulating physical media was a big no-no early in the COVID-19 pandemic due to how little we knew then about the virus, so patrons relied on digital lending services like OverDrive and Hoopla to satiate their need to read.
Library systems across the nation saw huge upticks in the number of patrons using these digital lending services. In 2023, digital materials circulation via Spokane Public Library surpassed physical materials and still hasn't slowed down. Digital checkouts have been just as popular within the Spokane County Library District.
"It's a well-established service that we are wedded to at this point," says Andrea Sharps, Spokane County Library District's collection services manager. "We've had it for so long, and it's so embedded in our customers' DNA."
Though the use of these services is by no means discouraged, digital lending services are costly to libraries due to the high cost of e-books. When a private individual purchases an e-book, it's often cheaper than a physical book. For libraries, it's the complete opposite.
Digital books can cost libraries three to four times as much as physical books. Meanwhile, the average cost of a print book ranges from $8 to $30. A library can keep that book in their collection forever, assuming it isn't lost or damaged.
The average cost to license an e-book, however, is around $40, while licensing an audiobook can cost upwards of $75. Licenses to distribute these digital assets must be renewed regularly, usually every one to two years, in order to keep them in the library's collection.
Purchasing models vary depending on publishers and platforms, but typically fall into one of two categories: one copy/one user and metered access. If a title is purchased via OverDrive under the one copy/one user model, the title can only be checked out by one person at a time, but the title will remain in the library's digital collection permanently. Under metered access, the title will disappear from the library's collection after a certain number of checkouts or a certain time period. Titles can be purchased under concurrent use or one copy/one user terms.
E-book prices are set by book publishers, and for popular titles libraries often license dozens of copies in order to satisfy demand.
"Libraries and publishers used to have a really good relationship," says Robert Roose, Spokane Public Library's support services director. "We were partners celebrating literature and literacy. Once e-content came around, that somehow eroded that relationship, and publishers started seeing us as direct competitors because they wanted to slow down the public's use of free content."
Roose says that to maintain a varied digital collection, Spokane Public Library aims to spend about $8,000 a week on digital books alone. Since subscribing to OverDrive in 2012, which includes the Libby app, the city library has spent $3.3 million to license approximately 87,000 copies of various books. However, due to licensing terms, only about half of those copies are still available to check out today.
Spokane Public Library's allocation for OverDrive content alone makes up more than one-third of its annual $1.5 million materials budget. Libby, the app that grants users access to a library's OverDrive collection of e-book and audiobooks, has some overlap with Hoopla offerings, but Hoopla also includes movies, TV shows and music, whereas Libby does not. OverDrive e-books can also be transferred to e-readers via the Libby app, something Hoopla doesn't offer.
As of Feb. 28, however, Spokane Public Library no longer provides the digital lending service Hoopla to its patrons due to recent cuts to the city budget. The Library Support Services service budget was trimmed by $143,000 in Mayor Lisa Brown's 2025-26 budget. Roose says there were no questions about retaining OverDrive, as its selection is wider than Hoopla's, is more accessible for different readers and sees more demand.
Local library users who still want to access Hoopla can do so through the Spokane County Library District, or SCLD, which has been offering the service since 2014 and OverDrive since 2010.
"[Hoopla] is a pay-per-use model, which makes it more expensive," Sharps says. "We are funded through property taxes, so in order to be responsive and have some assurance that we are able to have the service available all days of the month, we instituted a monthly budget cap, which really translates to a daily budget cap. Truthfully, there is not a day where that cap isn't reached usually by midafternoon."
The county's 2025 budget for Hoopla is $186,000 (or $15,500 a month), which Sharps says is an increase from previous years, yet allows SCLD to meet customers' needs. Its 2025 allocation for OverDrive, meanwhile, is $1 million, as that's where most of its digital demand occurs. Countywide, there were 95,634 OverDrive items (e-books and audiobooks) checked out in January of this year compared to 6,867 Hoopla items in the same time period.
"Libraries and publishers used to have a really good relationship. We were partners celebrating literature and literacy."
It doesn't matter whether this digital content is even opened by the customer or not; the library is still charged, and the money is subtracted from its daily budget cap.
Spokane Public Library has also implemented budget caps in order to try to reduce spending, but ultimately opted to cut Hoopla service from its offerings.
"Decisions had to be made," Roose says. "There was an effort not to lay anyone off."
There are efforts underway to make digital content more affordable for libraries with organizations like ReadersFirst and the American Library Association lobbying publishers for fairer terms and lower prices. Roose says libraries account for less than 2% of digital sales, so their influence remains limited.
"I don't even know if a groundswell of letters to the editor or letters to publishers would help," Roose says. "I don't know what would sway the publishers. They're also struggling."
He says donations can be made to fund the library's digital collections, and he encourages users to use the "Notify Me" feature on the Libby app to let the library know which books are most popular among their customer base to ensure it's using funds wisely.
"A lot of libraries are throwing their hands up right now," he says. "We don't know what to do."♦
