It’s a question we hear often. Unlike print books—which the library owns and can circulate until they wear out—e-books and audiobooks are licensed. We don’t own them, and access can expire after a set time or number of checkouts. On demand services like Hoopla charge the library for every single checkout. Unlike physical books, digital titles also cost libraries about 3.9 times more than what a consumer would pay.

Demand for e-content continues to grow, and we now spend nearly half of our materials budgets on digital content. To serve our entire community while stretching every dollar as far as possible, we encourage use of Libby and Palace Project e-Platforms.