I would like to see a National digital library. Other states allow any resident of the state to have a library card.
I used to pay an annual fee to the Brooklyn library but they stopped the service. I now pay $38 annually to Broward. Orange County is $125 and there are other states that will lend out of state but it would be so much easier if we had a national library. I wouldn’t have so many apps on my phone and have to search Each library separately.

This makes no sense to me.

I just borrowed 5 books to test and was able to download all of them. You mean to tell me I’m the only person in Sumter county downloading books today?

Btw, just in the unlikely event that this is true. I returned them all just now.

Libraries still exist?????

I get to pick one free e-book a month with Amazon First Reads program. Costs me nothing to sign up, and I've been using it since before I started subscribing to Amazon Prime. Each month you can select one book from a list of 5-6 books, each of a different genre. Some months you can select two books, sometimes you can get a book and a free short-story compilation.

I like Boundless / Hoopla
 

From time to time, I download an audio book. Based on time walking or in the car, it may take 30-60 days before I finish listening to a lengthy book. The first time my D/L expired, I panicked thinking I'd have to "find" the spot where I left off. I was pleasantly surprised to find that upon re-D/L'ing, the bookmark was automatic and the audio knew exactly where I had left off. Nice feature.

Please note that returning them does not change the daily borrowing limit. Once they are checked out, that counts against the daily borrowing limit.

I just tried to borrow a book and I got the following message.

The collective daily borrow limit set by your library has been reached and will reset at midnight. Please browse and add titles to favorites so you can easily access them after midnight.

Have you tried to borrow a sixth book?

Yes. It is located right next to the Daily Sun distribution center. :1rotfl:

Boundless vs Hoopla vs Libby
 

I go through 2-3 e-novels a week, both eBooks and audio books. I use Sumter's Boundless and Hoopla platforms. The limits on Hoopla are correct and sometimes frustrating. My observations are that Libby, which I used at a different library, is the best platform, but I have been told that it is the most expensive and Sumpter won't use it. Boundless is the worst (and the cheapest). It's sluggish, doesn't sync well between devices, doesn't track pages or paragraphs well, plus other annoying problems. Hoopla's platform is good but has those limits described by the OP. I have complained both on the Boundless site and to one of the Advisory Committee members. The selection is also frustrating on both sites. I prefer the style and pace of male authors, even in the same genre. The selection of books on both sites seems to be about 80% female authors, and at 74 years old I have read most of the books by the male authors. If you are also frustrated with Sumter's platforms maybe more comments to the Advisory Committee will help us.

And the majority of the 80% female writers, write murders!


Be very careful out there. :22yikes:

I have been doing some research on the various apps. I think Libby is cheaper than Hoopla - which is why Hoopla limits the county to 5 books a day. I am still trying to verify that number. For some reason the library seems reluctant to give me that information.

I have looked at their website and I can find nothing on their budget! I would like to know how much is budgeted yearly for hoopla, boundless, etc.

libby
 

I wish they would offer Libby. Boundless does not work with Kindle paperwhite and Hoopla only works with newer Kindle paperwhite. Libby works with all.

Most people agree with you on Libby.

It would be nice if the library or the county commissioners could explain their decisions on what apps they buy and the costs involved.

Asked Don Wiley a question on the library a few days ago and hope he will get back to me with info.

I am not really understanding why this daily limit is a problem. Are you all trying to read five books in a single day? Or even five in a single month? Some books I can easily read in a couple of days. The Harry Potter Books I soared through in two weeks. The entire series. Most books take me at least a couple of weeks each though. A couple - mostly books by Neil Stephenson, can easily take me a few months to get through, because they're very complicated books. Stephen Hawking's "A brief history of time" I had to stop after the first chapter and do a bunch of google searches for specific words to understand. I re-read that chapter a couple of times until the information clicked for me, and that took me a total of two months. Just to get through one chapter of one book. But when you're learning about Quantum Physics for the first time in your life and you don't have a background involving complex mathematics, it's to be expected.

Anyway - if you're not needing to actually read five books a month and just want to line something up for when you finish the one you're on, why not just take out one book, and a second one when you're halfway through the first?

The problem to me is how many books can be put on reserve. Very often I have to remove books from reserve as I am up to 5 and would prioritize another book over what is on reserve.

Do not understand why we are limited to books on reserve.