Library board debates tighter Libby access for secondary property owners

Duchesne County Library Board members discussed proposed changes to the system's circulation policy that would limit secondary property owners'access to the statewide Libby/OverDrive digital collection and require those nonprimary owners to use the digital collections of their home library system.

Library staff member Daniel Markley described why he is proposing the change, saying the shared Beehive Library Consortium (Libby/OverDrive) collection is strained and that allowing multiple accounts per person produces unequal access: "If people have an account in Salt Lake and in Duchene and in Uinta, they have 3 accounts where most people only can have 1. They get 10 holds, they get so many, you know, and then that's it. This person can have 30 holds because they were able to get it." Markley said the county contributes substantial dollars to the consortium: "Last year, Utah library spent $1,500,000 in overdrive, not including the state library. That was another 400,000. We dumped 2,000,000 in overdrive last year combined." He said that practice can push lower-income residents down hold lists.

Markley told the board that some vendors offer category-blocking and that a technical fix could prevent a nonresident account from reaching shared-consortium content: "If I turn the category on a patron to a non resident 1, doesn't matter that they have a Duchene card with the right numbers on it. It will still reject them and say, you're not supposed to have access to this collection, which is great." He said he plans to propose that libraries require patrons to use the Libby/OverDrive account tied to their primary residence.

Board members asked how much data the system can provide about multiple accounts and usage. A board member asked, "Are you able to see on your system if they have more than 1?" Markley responded that Libby/OverDrive does not provide clear cross-system account tracking to the local catalog: "No. But we've been allowing it. Mhmm. And I and and other libraries have kinda said, well, it should be allowed." He said tightening account rules at multiple counties would help.

Markley also discussed Duchesne's spending on Hoopla, a separate digital vendor, and signaled possible future limits on usage: "I spent about 1,800 in Hoopla last month... I am highly considering we might need to drop back to 4 4 circs." He said staff will present circulation and expenditure data at the July budget discussion.

The proposed policy language circulating to the board would require proof of primary residence for a resident account, allow nonprimary property owners to acquire a "nonresident second property account" limited in certain ways, and specify that digital collection access should come from a patron's home library system. Markley said he would propose additional clarifications at the next meeting and that some nonresident account privileges (for example, checking out tablets) might be adjusted.

No formal action or vote on the circulation policy occurred at the May 20 meeting; the board reviewed and debated the proposal and will consider final wording at a future meeting.

Ending

Markley said he would present usage and cost data to the board by the July budget discussion so members could weigh spending and access trade-offs before any final policy change.