It’s called Hoopla, and through a free app on a smart phone or tablet, library users in Forsyth County can now get free access to an extensive collection of talking books, music, and even movies and TV shows. In fact, I’m enjoying some classic cuts of Sinatra I put this column together.
On May 14 Hoopla service went live for Forsyth County Library cardholders and became the second library system in Georgia to partner with Hoopla. Others in our state offering the service are Smyrna Public Library and the Live Oak Public Libraries around Savannah.
Choices get better all the time, with more than 150,000 titles in the system and new ones added weekly, including 100,000 music titles, 11,000 audio books and around 40,000 movies and television shows. The best part is that all of this material is absolutely free. In addition, Hoopla users can choose from an extensive catalog of educational material, children’s titles, foreign films and other items the library describes as hard-to-find.
The collection has everything from the classics by the giants such as Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Twain to literature for teens and children. There’s also a sizeable self-help selection for pack-ratting, disorganized, Oscar Madison-types such as me. I am really interested in one self-help book I’ve seen entitled “Have a New You by Friday,” seems to be just the right amount of tweaking I need, since I am writing this on Thursday (LOL).
With this new service, there is never a waiting list and each patron can borrow and instantly download five items per month. At the end of the lending period the item simply disappears from your device, so there is never a concern about an overdue item or a fine. Movies and TV episodes remain available to the borrower for 3 days, music for seven days and audio books remain on the device for 21 days.
Forsyth County Library’s Linda Kelly says it is a way to improve on the delivery of library services. She said, “With Hoopla Digital’s free content, easy-to-use interface and the elimination of late fees, we’ve raised the bar in a greater way than ever before.” Ms. Kelly says it is a way to offer 24/7 mobile access to anyone with a library card.
Hoopla is a service of Midwest Tape of Toledo, Ohio, a long-time partner of public libraries. The owner and founder of Hoopla Digital is Jeff Jankowski. He says it’s his mission “…to help public libraries meet the needs of the mobile generation.”
People at the library say they are pleased with the positive feedback Hoopla has generated. As of this writing, 3,045 items have been checked out by patrons, a relatively small number when compared to the 482,000 or so items borrowed in the more traditional ways. Still, librarians expect the Hoopla circulation numbers will accelerate as word spreads about the product and its ease of use.
One resident I spoke with just renewed her lapsed library card in order to take advantage of this new service that is putting the word cool back into the way people think of libraries.
And obviously I’m thinking Hoopla is pretty cool too. I just can’t wait for that all new me to show up tomorrow.
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