Woodlands-area families looking to load up on digital audiobooks and comics before Conroe ISD's Wednesday, Aug. 12, first day of school will find one fewer option at the library. The Montgomery County Memorial Library System dropped its Hoopla digital streaming platform on Saturday, Aug. 1, citing a lopsided cost-to-use ratio that left thousands of patrons locked out every month.
Why Hoopla got cut
Hoopla's pay-per-use model charged MCMLS every time a patron borrowed an item, even if it was never finished. Over the previous eight months, the platform consumed more than 36% of the library system's digital materials budget while accounting for only about 7% of digital circulation, according to an MCMLS announcement published July 31.
About 1,600 patrons used Hoopla each month. But more than 4,400 patrons were turned away monthly because the system hit its daily spending cap before they could borrow anything.
Where the money goes now
MCMLS is redirecting the freed-up budget to OverDrive/Libby, its primary digital lending platform, to buy more copies of high-demand titles and cut hold wait times. The system is also pursuing grant funding to expand digital holdings further.
Through reciprocal lending agreements with Harris County Public Library, Houston Public Library, Beaumont Public Library System, Bryan + College Station Public Library System and Round Rock Public Library System, MCMLS cardholders now have access to more than 540,000 eBooks and eAudiobooks.
Elizabeth Sargent, MCMLS assistant director of support services, said in an April 30 announcement about the OverDrive expansion that the partnerships give patrons "access to more than 500,000 digital items." The MCMLS collection alone grew from about 9,600 titles in March to over 41,500 titles with 75,000 copies as of May 1.
What's available without a wait
To soften the loss of Hoopla's instant-borrow model, MCMLS purchased several "All Access" collections on Libby that require no holds:
- All Access Comics — thousands of titles from Disney, Marvel, IDW, Image and Dark Horse, funded by the South Montgomery County Friends of the Library
- All Access Mysteries — funded by the Library Friends of Conroe
- All Access Romances — more than 1,700 titles refreshed quarterly, funded by the South Montgomery County Friends of the Library
- All Access Classics — more than 4,000 Duke Classics titles, funded by the South Montgomery County Friends of the Library
What's gone for now
Hoopla offered streaming movies, TV shows and music that OverDrive/Libby does not carry. MCMLS said it is "actively researching budgeting options" for a future streaming alternative but gave no timeline. Usage data showed the county system averaged just 216 movie borrows, 94 TV show borrows and 42 music album borrows per month on Hoopla.
Physical DVDs, Blu-rays and music CDs remain available for checkout at all MCMLS branches, including the George & Cynthia Mitchell Library and Kevin Brady Library in The Woodlands.
What families should do
Patrons who want to save their Hoopla borrowing history can log in on a desktop computer, navigate to My Hoopla > History, and copy, paste or screenshot the list. Items checked out before July 31 remain accessible until their loan period ends.
On Libby, patrons can tag titles with "Notify Me" to alert the collection team about demand, or fill out a "Recommend a Title" form at countylibrary.org. Returning eBooks early and using the "Deliver Later" option for holds that arrive before a reader is ready also helps reduce wait times for neighbors.
