Jefferson County Library eBook Survey (Begin by clicking on this link)

Thank you for completing our 11-question (plus a comment box) survey about eBooks and eMagazines.

Background

The Jefferson County Library is part of a tri-county library consortium that allows us to offer access to materials beyond our local physical collection. As a library card holder, you have access to most items available in our catalog of materials, including access to the collections from Crook County Library and the Deschutes Public Library. You can also borrow eBooks, eMagazines, and audiobooks through Libby and have them delivered to your mobile phone, tablet, or computer.

eBook Costs

Since the library began offering e-content lending around 2014, the demand for eBooks has increased from lending 6,050 items in 2014 to loaning 21,715 items in 2021-2022. Not surprisingly, we had a surge in eBook lending between 2019 and 2020 because of COVID. We will lend about 23,000 eBooks from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. Our per-item cost for each eBook checked out by District cardholders is $1.00, which makes eBook lending our most significant collection development expense.

Impact on the Library Budget

I'm dealing with the possibility that the cost of lending eBooks through Libby could increase from $1.00 to $2.00 per item. The math on this one is easy; our eBook expense could double, going from around $23,000 to $46,000 annually. This hefty increase impacts other purchasing and programming decisions.

The library's budget committee is tasked with supporting the services our public wants and making prudent funding choices. I am asking for your input, realizing that I'm at the beginning of considering the cost/benefit and alternatives. I'm still identifying all of the advantages and disadvantages of different solutions. I'm also collecting demographic data – how many unique users, the average number of books checked at a time, how many are renewed, or if there can be a cap on the total number of eBooks loaned.

Options include (1) maintaining the existing process and increasing our budget for electronic content accordingly, (2) identifying an alternative source for eContent, (3) if possible, limiting the number of checkouts by session, month, year, or (4) eliminating the service.

Based on our statistics, eliminating eBook lending isn't an option. The data confirms that it is a  popular service. Plus, we've had a growing interest in online video lending. One option for video lending is Hoopla, a web and mobile library media streaming platform for audiobooks, comics, e-books, movies, music, and TV. Patrons of a library supporting Hoopla have access to its digital media collection. We are looking into all of our options.

The Jefferson County Library is YOUR library; your opinion is essential. How do you feel about absorbing the cost, adding video streaming, considering other alternatives, or something else? I know that the staff, board, and budget committee are all invested in making sure we are providing relevant services to our District residents and maintaining financial accountability at the same time.