Changes to RB Digital--Updated

From Marianne Lorio, 8/14:

In an effort to both save money and generate more usage, we are making some changes to what we offer through RBdigital starting September 1^st. Here is what you need to know:

•  We are switching to an unlimited simultaneous use plan that will offer fewer titles, but will include the most popular RBdigital audiobooks.
• We will start adding titles that are available exclusively through RBdigital to the collection. These will include titles by Danielle Steel, Fern Michaels, and Alexander McCall Smith among others.
• We are also reviewing the titles checked out from RBdigital for the past year for titles we need to add to the new collection.
• These added titles will not be unlimited use, but library customers will be able to place holds on the audiobooks that are checked out.
• The resulting collection will be smaller but more unique.
• Since I know someone will ask, some authors will have titles in OverDrive, but OverDrive can’t provide all of their titles. For example, Alexander McCall Smith’s juvenile titles are in OverDrive. However, the adult series he is best known for, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, is provided only by RBdigital.
• After September 1^st, it will take a couple of days for the records in the catalog to change to the new subscription.

From ML, 8/28: I just updated the description on the Research webpage to include a notice about this change. Please let me know if you get any questions you can’t answer or have any questions of your own.

From ML, 8/29: We’ve just found out that it is important for anyone who currently has an audiobook checked out from RBdigital to download it to their device before September 1^st. Otherwise their access to the audiobook will be impacted when our subscription plan changes beginning September. I have added this information to the description on the Research webpage, but anything you can do to spread the word will be appreciated.

Changes to E-Book Subscriptions

From Marianne Lorio, 8/2:

I apologize for not spreading the news better, but starting this month we will no longer be offering e-books and audiobooks in the Hoopla collection. The reasons for this difficult decision are budget cuts and the costs of these titles in Hoopla compared to the cost in OverDrive. The key factor is that Hoopla charges per checkout of any item. Whereas we pay one price for access to an OverDrive title. When we compared the cost and the usage of both services Hoopla was costing significantly more than OverDrive and getting only a fraction of the usage. If we had kept the availability as it was, it is forecasted that Hoopla would have grown to be over 10% of our materials budget, which is much greater than the percentage of total usage Hoopla provides. We are planning on funneling some of the money that we are saving on Hoopla into buying additional copies and titles for OverDrive. We are working towards reducing the wait time for OverDrive holds to be fulfilled.

As a side note, the remaining formats in Hoopla, music, movies, and comics, have cost us significantly less than e-books and audiobooks. The content of these collections is also, generally, unique to Hoopla, which is why we are maintaining them for the foreseeable future.

From Marianne, 10:46 AM:

As you know by now, budget cuts are leading us to review all our renewals very carefully. The subscription we had with Rbdigital was rather expensive, especially considering that the number of library customers using it was relativity low. Therefore we changed the subscription plan to one that has fewer titles (the top 250 titles) and costs less.

We will be taking some of the money that is saved to purchase audiobooks titles that are exclusive to Rbdigital, including Daniel Steel and Alexander McCall Smith. Please note that these title will be one copy/one user, which means that if all the copies are checked out you will be able to place a hold on the title. This change will take place at the beginning of September. Please be patient with us as we build a smaller, but more unique collection.