Starting Monday, Jan. 27, Sno-Isle Libraries is reducing the number of holds on ebooks and digital audiobooks from 20 to 10. Reducing the number of holds allows us to better manage rising costs and continue to provide materials aligned with your interest and broad selection of ebooks and digital audiobooks.
If you have more than 10 holds on Jan. 27, you will not lose any holds. When you have fewer than 10 holds, you may start placing new items on hold again.
You will still be able to borrow up to 30 digital items at a time.
Why is this happening?
Ebooks and digital audiobooks continue to grow more popular year after year. In the last 5 years Sno-Isle Libraries' digital users have doubled. We love to see our community’s incredible appetite for stories and materials.
Libraries pay much more for ebooks and digital audiobooks than print books. The cost for these formats can be more than three times the cost of the print version and much higher than what an individual consumer pays.
Take “Onyx Storm” by Rebecca Yarros, for example:
Print book
Library Price: $16.49
Consumer Price: $29.99
Ebook
Library Price: $60.00
Consumer Price: $14.99
As of Jan. 14, 2025, the "Onyx Storm” ebook has more than 2,000 holds.
In addition to the higher price, libraries do not own ebooks and digital audiobooks like print books. Libraries purchase licenses for a set timeframe or number of checkouts and when licenses expire, titles must be repurchased to continue availability.
How do holds impact the cost of ebooks and digital audiobooks?
The number of holds placed for a title are used as an indicator of demand and additional licenses are purchased to reduce wait times as much as possible. Purchasing additional copies to meet customer demand accounted for over half of our digital budget in 2024. Reducing the holds limit will help to reduce overall wait times and allow us to redistribute funds to increase the number of titles available in the collection.
What if I use my Libby holds list as my “to-be-read” list? What do I do now?
If you use the Libby app, you can use the “Tags” feature to create your reading list. Check the Libby Help section for more information.
Do you have other suggestions for finding ebooks that are available without a wait?
Yes! You can check out hundreds of ebooks and digital audiobooks right away, with no holds, through the Available Now collections of fiction ebooks, nonfiction ebooks, digital audiobooks, and comics. These include a wide range of popular titles and are always changing. Sno-Isle Libraries also offers a monthly Instant Access title, so you can start reading right away.