What is Hoopla?
Hoopla is an online streaming service for public libraries that provides movies, documentaries, TV series, music, graphic novels, and audiobooks. There are no commercials anywhere throughout the material. For those who use libraries, Hoopla is a free service. There are no waitlists and no late fees because the content is always available and things are instantly returned! Weekly new releases are added to Hoopla’s collection from a variety of retailers. You should check out any titles you like if they are occasionally added for a brief period of time.
- The catalogue is huge.
The digital library apparently has 10,000 movies, TV episodes, and audiobooks in addition to more than 250,000 records. Not too shabby for a first compilation. There are more informative and instructional films that may be checked out for three days without being placed on a wait list, yet the movies and TV episodes aren’t as recent or vast as Netflix. Audiobooks are automatically returned after three weeks, and albums after seven days. I discovered that different library systems may have different versions of the Hoopla catalogue. The overlap with OverDrive, for instance, may cause TPLs to ignore audiobooks.
2. It is exclusive to public libraries.
Other digital material providers Zinio and IndieFlix, which are also accessible at some libraries, started off as consumer goods before branching out into the education market. In contrast, a vendor for libraries developed and created Hoopla. Individual subscriptions are not available from them.
- It’s pay-per-use, not subscription-based.
Users of public libraries in cities who sign up for Hoopla can use them for free, but the libraries that accept it must pay a fee. Libraries receive between $0.99 and $2.99 per title when a user checks out an item. The amount of materials a patron may borrow each month is capped by each library system. For instance, the Hamilton Public Library restricts patrons to a monthly maximum of 10 volumes.
- It won’t replace what is currently available.
Not immediately, at least. Public libraries have traditionally provided access to both instructional and entertainment materials. For people who desire digital information and prefer the convenience of obtaining it through an internet platform, this is just new technology—an alternative to DVDs and CDs. But there are some clear restrictions. Similar to the issue with ebooks and digital magazines, not everyone has appropriate devices (iOS 6, Android 4.0+) or can fulfill the technical requirements (unlimited bandwidth, 3G, 4G connection) to stream and download content.
- It’s part Canadian.
Despite having its headquarters in Ohio, Hoopla is managed in Canada by CVS Midwest Tape, a media distributor in Toronto that has been giving public libraries access to tangible media since 1988. It’s actually reassuring that neither a major media corporation nor a trending startup is behind it all. Cheers to advancing technologies!
