Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Collections topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Trustees discuss blocking low-quality Hoopla content to protect Wakefield’s curated collection
Summary
Staff told trustees the library is taking steps to block scraped or misleading entries on Hoopla that would not meet the library’s collection policy; trustees praised the curation approach and noted per-checkout costs as a factor in the decision.
Library staff told trustees they are working to block low-quality or misleading entries that appear on Hoopla and similar services to keep Wakefield’s collection aligned with the library’s collection-development policy.
A staff member explained that ``their model is they ingest content, whereas we curate our content. It's all intentionally purchased. They're just scraping the internet kind of. So, they consider it a win when they just get more stuff. We consider it a win when we have quality stuff on there.'' The staff member said the library pays per checkout for some digital items, so blocking misleading entries or fake-publisher variants reduces costs and prevents patrons from checking out lower-quality content under mistaken publisher names.
Trustees raised examples of publisher-name variants and fraud-like entries that made it harder to detect quality issues without librarian review. Board members supported the approach and emphasized that curation aligns with the library’s collection policy: material that would not pass a purchase review for a physical book should not remain in the curated digital collection.
Trustees asked staff to continue refining blocking criteria and to report back on implementation and any recurring publisher-name patterns. The board did not take a separate vote on collection policy changes; staff described this as an initial step to clean up the platform feed and reduce inadvertent purchases.
