Hoopla
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hoopla is an innovative new service that partners with your local public library to bring you thousands of movies, television, music, and audiobook titles for free. There are no costs or hassles. All you need is a library card and a web browser, phone, or tablet.
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This is a fairly new content provider for public libraries. They've been around since Jan 2013. They're not very widespread at the moment, but plan to increase their library clientele substantially this year. Only four of my libraries carry this provider and only one of those include the audiobook service. All of them have the music and video services.
I recently signed up for this provider; in fact, I created separate accounts at two different libraries in order to maximize the number of checkouts I have available. Each account required a different email address for login. I tried using the same one like I can do with multiple OneClick Digital accounts, but it didn't work.
Hoopla is a streaming service and requires an internet connection in order to work. It works on computers and mobile Android and iOS devices. You can't download the content for offline playback or playback on non-net devices like MP3 players. Additionally, you can only use it on one device at a time; but it does allow you to switch devices and pick up where you left off.
It appears that their entire catalog is available to libraries. Instead of buying content, libraries pay a small fee to Hoopla for each item borrowed. All items are available for check out all of the time. So if 200 library patrons wish to borrow the Hunger Games at the same time, they can do so. To accommodate their budgets, libraries limit the number of check outs each patron is allowed per month. For example, my libraries allow anywhere from 8 to 20 check outs per calendar month. Once you reach that limit, you have to wait until the following month before you're allowed to borrow more material.
Check out periods range from three days for videos to seven days for music (entire albums) to 21 days for audiobooks. You can return items early, but there's no advantage to doing so. It doesn't free up the item for someone else, since all items are always available. In addition, it doesn't increase the number of items you're allowed to borrow.
edit:
I currently have 10 audiobooks (Twilight Zone Radio Dramas) that I checked out on 28 Feb and due 21 Mar. Since today starts a new month, I'm now allowed to check out 10 more items; even though I currently have items checked out. With this library, I could have up to 20 items checked out at a time.