Liverpool Public Library patrons have a new way to access their favorite songs, videos and audiobooks. Earlier this month, LPL officially launched its partnership with Hoopla, a mobile and desktop app that allows users to stream or temporarily download media.
“Before Hoopla, we only had Freegal. Freegal is basically downloadable music, which you can keep. We offer currently five downloads a week,” explained Annette Friedrichs, LPL’s adults’, children’s and teens’ services librarian. “If you’re a classical music listener and you want those additional movements, you need to keep going back.”
While users can’t keep the media they download with Hoopla, they have unlimited access to as many as five titles per month during the loan period, which varies depending on what they download. Videos are available for three days, music is available for seven days and audiobooks are available for three weeks.
Friedrichs said Hoopla also offers comic books, graphic novels, TV shows and e-books.
“The other advantage of Hoopla is they send us all the records for our online catalog,” Friedrichs said.
Library patrons can check the online catalog for both the library’s traditional offerings and to see what is available on Hoopla.
“The convenience is incredible,” Friedrichs said.
Once downloaded, Hoopla media are accessible even if a device is not connected to the Internet. Friedrichs said she tested Hoopla herself on a recent vacation.
“On my trip recently, I took my iPad. I went to the Hoopla app and I listened to a soundtrack — 30 songs,” she said.
Friedrichs said Hoopla is one tool for a growing population of library users who want mobile and digital access to books, music and more. She said she’s seen a shift in the way people use the library since the advent of smartphones and tablets.
“They come to our information desk with their devices in hand. This is how they’re getting to their music and their audiobooks,” she said. “We’re teaching them to access all this downloadable media. We used to open a drawer and look up the call number. It’s not a call number; it’s digital access to media.”
LPL patrons can sign up for Hoopla access using their library cards and PINs. If you don’t have a PIN for your library card, visit the library information desk in person to create one.
Once you have your card and PIN in hand, head to hoopladigital.com. The site will ask you to create an account with your email address and a password. From there, you can download Hoopla from your mobile device’s app store. Desktop and laptop computer users can download a plug-in called Widevine to access Hoopla via browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
“We’re doing our best to provide [patrons] with a very comprehensive selection of music, especially,” Friedrichs said. “We’re doing our best to use their taxpayer dollars to their benefit.”
