Escondido trustees vote 5-0 to limit Hoopla access to verified physical cards beginning March 1
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Summary
The Escondido Public Library Board voted unanimously to restrict Hoopla access to patrons with verified physical library cards, citing cost pressures and data showing many online-only users live outside Escondido. The board set a transition period and directed staff to notify affected users and coordinate with the vendor.
Escondido Public Library trustees voted 5-0 at their Jan. 8 meeting to restrict access to the Hoopla digital content service to patrons with verified physical Escondido library cards, with the change to take effect March 1.
Board members and staff said the decision responds to a per-download budget cap and usage data showing significant nonresident use. Reno (library staff member) told trustees the library has a monthly Hoopla budget cap of about $1,300 and that the system recently reduced the monthly checkout allowance from five to three per user to limit costs. "The cap right now is 3," Reno said during the presentation, describing how daily downloads were being exhausted shortly after midnight.
Reno presented three technical ways the service could be limited—by card prefix, by home library, or by patron type—and said staff recommended methods that would prioritize verified Escondido residents. Reno told trustees that, based on Hoopla and the library’s ILS records for the previous three months, roughly 500 unique accounts used Hoopla and that a majority of online-only (non‑physical) card users were located outside of Escondido. Reno said the average cost per Hoopla circulation in the dataset was about $2.27, which informed the board’s concern about how quickly the monthly cap is consumed.
Trustees discussed alternatives, including additional remote verification for residents unable to visit the library in person. Reno said staff can contact affected online-only users by email and offer a time-limited conversion to a verified physical card or an individually verified account: "We can certainly contact them directly via email," Reno said. Trustees agreed the library should provide exceptions where needed and that other digital services (such as Libby and shared databases) would remain available to users.
The board made a motion to restrict Hoopla access to verified physical cards effective March 1, with a two-month transition period for notice and direct outreach. The motion passed 5-0; the transcript records the vote as "approved five-zero" but does not record the mover/second by name.
Staff said they will contact Hoopla to schedule the vendor-side filter and begin direct outreach to affected users. Reno told the board staff will notify online-only account holders by email and public notices and will provide an accommodations process for Escondido residents who cannot visit in person.
Trustees framed the move as prioritizing limited local funds for city residents while preserving other free or lower-cost digital offerings for users who remain ineligible for Hoopla.
The board’s action will be implemented administratively; staff indicated they expect to complete vendor coordination and begin patron notifications in the two-month window before the March 1 effective date.