A Closer Look at hoopla: Digital Books, Music, Movies, TV & the Borrow Limit

Posted on February 4, 2025 at 7:00 am

By Andrea Sharps, Collection Services Director

Spokane County Library District (SCLD) has offered the streaming media service hoopla since early 2014. To support this popular service, we’ve allocated more money in the annual library materials budget in each subsequent year.

Content available on hoopla includes digital audiobooks, eBooks, comics, music, movies, television shows, and BingePasses through a pay-per-use model, which means that SCLD pays for each item checked out by our library customers.

Prices for items range from 99 cents to $3.99, charged each time they are borrowed. The library is charged whether a borrowed item is opened and used or not.

Since SCLD is charged each time an item is checked out through this pay-per-use model, if use of hoopla materials increases more than anticipated or at an unprecedented rate, it is impossible for the budget to keep pace. The solution to this is a monthly budget cap.

The monthly budget cap is based on the number of days in the month and keeps SCLD fiscally responsible and within the annual allocated budget for hoopla. That cap is then divided into a daily budget, ensuring that there are funds available for customers to borrow each day of the month and for each month in the year.

However, when the daily budget cap has been reached, customers will get this message:

“The collective daily borrow limit set by your library has been reached and will reset at midnight. Please browse and add titles to favorites so you can easily access them after midnight.”

This message pops up when the daily budget limit is reached, which sometimes happens as early as midday. Since the daily budget limit resets at midnight Pacific, customers have the best chance to borrow hoopla materials just after midnight and through the morning hours.

If you’ve checked out physical books and other materials from our catalog or digital books through OverDrive and the Libby app, then you know it is common to have to wait for those materials to become available for borrowing.

While the pay-per-use model is different, the hoopla experience is a bit like being on a holds list for a bestseller or other popular materials. One big difference with hoopla is that all items are available to borrow no matter how many other people have checked them out.

So, instead of waiting days or weeks for your hold to be available, you can borrow from hoopla either immediately or in less than 24 hours when the daily budget resets!

Here’s some additional information about hoopla checkouts:

• Customers can check out six (6) hoopla titles per month (this limit gives more people a chance to check out these in-demand items)
• Movies and television shows check out for three (3) days
• BingePasses and music check out for seven (7) days
• Audiobooks, comics, and eBooks check out for 21 days
• Borrowed titles are automatically returned
• There are no holds lists
• As a digital resource, hoopla is available for in-district library card holders

The BingePass from hoopla allows you to stream entire collections and platforms for seven days with just a single borrow. Popular BingePasses include:

• Hallmark+ movies
• The Great Courses Videos
• Pokémon
• STEAM Powered Kids
• Curiosity Stream
• Puzzle Palace
• Get Healthy U TV

Our hoopla materials appear in our online catalog, enabling you to see what’s available from this streaming service. You’re also able to see all formats for a title in one place. So, if you’re looking for a digital book to read right away, you can search our catalog to see if it is also available to borrow with Libby.

Happy streaming!

Tags: adults, audiobooks, binge, BingePasses, books, digital, eBooks, kids, movies, music, parents, reading, teens, television, tv, tweens