Q: What should I know about using Hoopla through East Greenwich Free Library?
We're thrilled to offer Hoopla as part of our digital collection! It gives you free access to a huge range of movies, music, eBooks, audiobooks, and more—all available instantly with your library card.
That said, we’d like to share a few things to help you get the most out of Hoopla, and to help us continue offering it:
- Each borrow costs the library money: Unlike some other library resources, we pay per item borrowed on Hoopla. While you can enjoy up to 6 borrows per month, each one deducts from our library’s budget. So we kindly ask: if you don’t plan to read, watch, or listen to something, please wait until you’re ready to borrow it.
- Choose carefully: Not all content on Hoopla is of equal quality, and some titles can be confusing. For example, you might accidentally borrow a summary or analysis of a book rather than the full version. Unfortunately, even mistaken borrows still count toward your monthly limit—and our budget.
- Hoopla is library-specific: Hoopla (and services like Kanopy) are subscribed to by individual libraries—not the state. If you don’t have a library card from East Greenwich, you won’t be able to use our Hoopla subscription. Similarly, many patrons ask why we don’t also offer Kanopy. We wish we could—but subscribing to both services is currently beyond our budget. We have to make careful choices about which resources we can afford to provide.
- Statewide resources are available too: Don't forget that all Rhode Island library cardholders also have access to Libby and other shared e-content platforms through the Ocean State Libraries network. These are fantastic resources that are supported at the state level, so anyone with a Rhode Island library card can use them—no matter which library issued it.
- Need help? We’re here for you! If you’re not sure whether something is the full version or just a summary—or if you're curious how to get the most out of Hoopla—just ask a librarian. We’re always happy to help.
We love being able to offer Hoopla and want everyone to enjoy it responsibly. Your thoughtful borrowing helps keep this amazing resource available to everyone in our community.
