Brooklyn Library discontinuing out-of-state library cards

[Fbone]

New Orleans $50/yr --Overdrive 34,000 but also Hoopla and Cloud Library

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I'm quite surprised, especially as it was only a few months back that Brooklyn offered free out-of-state cards to teenagers.

Those free cards are still being offered:

Out-of-State Residents (non-NYS residents)

Teens and young adults ages 13-21 outside of New York State can apply for a free Books Unbanned eCard. This card provides access to BPL’s entire digital collection and helps connect young people facing censorship and book bans in their communities with materials that explore a wider range of topics. You can support the Books Unbanned initiative by making a donation.

[Fbone]

I found another library offering non-resident cards remotely.

Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma City: $70/yr Overdrive 186,000 + Hoopla.

I chatted with a woman there, and she told me this, "Yes, you can email us at askalibrarian@metrolibrary.org with your name, date of birth, phone number, and address. With that information, we'll be able to create the account and get you set up to pay the $70 annual fee online."

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by meeera

I'd happily pay more than I already do - it's not free.

Me too. But if Brooklyn raised the price, the patrons who subsidize others, by using it rarely, would drop, so that might not help them financially.

And my Brooklyn card, first purchased in person in 2012, expires on August 1

I have a handful of cards from Pennsylvania libraries (most PA libraries give free cards if you live in state and stop by physically).

I pay for the Jewish Public Library in Montreal (web-only annual membership is just $18, but they only have 1,807 English language EPUB's), and still can use the small Taipei Public Library Overdrive collection from having briefly lived there. But Brooklyn was by far the best match to my interests.

Oklahoma City has a big collection but may not be a good match for what I want to read. Maybe I'll try Queens.

[tubemonkey]

Non-Resident Library Cards -- updated 16 Jul 2022

Note: this list is not complete

• Chapel Hill Pub (NC) -- $65/year
  
• C Mecklenburg (NC) -- $45/year -or- $35/year (62 years and older)
  
• Detroit Public (MI) -- $100/year
  
• Fairfax County (VA) -- $27/year
  
• Houston Public (TX) -- $40/year
  
• Metropolitan Lib (OK) -- $70/year -- must email library --> details
  
• Monroe County (NY) -- $25/year
  
• New Orleans (LA) ---- $50/year
  
• Orange County (FL) -- $125/year -or- $75/3mo
  
• Queens Public (NY) -- $50/year
  
• Salt Lake City (UT) -- $80/year
  
• Westchester (NY) ---- $75/year -or- $35/year (65 years and older)

Restricted Non-Resident Library Cards

• Brooklyn Public (NY) ---- FREE -- ages 13~21 only (Books Unbanned eCard)
  
• Carnegie Library (PA) --- $30/2 yrs -- must register in-person
  
• Hennepin County (MN) -- $60/year -- digital checkouts NOT allowed

Former Non-Resident Library Cards

• Brooklyn Public (NY) -- no longer offers out-of-state fee cards as of 15 Jul 2022 --> details
  
• Free Library Phil (PA) -- no longer offers out-of-state fee cards as of 01 Nov 2019

.

[Fbone]

I signed up for the Metropolitan card. Very fast and easy.

They have three titles Brooklyn didn't have.

[apesmom]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I signed up for the Metropolitan card. Very fast and easy.

They have three titles Brooklyn didn't have.

That one looks like a great alternative, they have a bunch of stuff on my list that Brooklyn doesn't have yet. I'm good at Brooklyn until next June but I'll keep this one in mind.

[Lykke]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

[*]Monroe County (NY) -- $25/year

Monroe also allows non-US citizens to apply for an eCard. Countries are selectable from the application form.

[issybird]

It looks as if Detroit is in-person only. It’s also the worst deal of the list as far as OverDrive goes; you’d really need to be able to access the physical library.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Non-Resident Library Cards -- updated 16 Jul 2022

Note: this list is not complete

• Chapel Hill Pub (NC) -- $65/year
  
  <SNIP>

.

The Chapel Hill Public Library is my local library. I've had a card there since 1999. I paid the out of county fee for the 5 years I lived in Charlotte as I found it to be a better library than what Charlotte had to offer. They boast the highest circulation in all of the state of North Carolina. If anyone has specific questions about this one, I'd be happy to answer. I *think* poohbear might also have a card here though he lives a few miles outside of town in a neighboring county.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I always kind of thought it was unfair to the local taxpayers who built the libraries and paid the help with their taxes.

Per capita tax going to libraries is a few dollars a year at most, and by all accounts, many of the people paying taxes don't use the libraries. Compare that to someone who wants to use the library paying $50 directly to them, and I'm not sure how "unfair" comes into it.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I'm quite surprised, especially as it was only a few months back that Brooklyn offered free out-of-state cards to teenagers.

I guess it's good my daughter got that deal while she could.

As mentioned above, Free Library of Philadelphia also stopped their out of state program several years back, but whether by design or by accident, my armed forces free card has continued to work, so I'm trying to keep my head down and be thankful.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

^^And Queens: Annual fee $50. 48,000 epubs, but 86,000 OverDrive Reads, which is unfortunate. Assuming entire overlap, that’s roughly 40,000 books that can only be read in a browser.

Where did you see these numbers? I'm seeing 98,000 ebooks, 10,000 audiobooks. I don't see any breakdown for epubs vs. OverDrive Reads. I've only encountered OverDrive Reads for some magazines (but then again, I mostly access audiobooks).

Queens also uses Axis360 for ebooks and audiobooks; I don't know how many titles.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ApK

Per capita tax going to libraries is a few dollars a year at most, and by all accounts, many of the people paying taxes don't use the libraries. Compare that to someone who wants to use the library paying $50 directly to them, and I'm not sure how "unfair" comes into it.

According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg library website:

Non-residents of Mecklenburg County can obtain a Charlotte Mecklenburg Library card for an annual fee, which is approximately equal to the annual property tax a Mecklenburg County resident pays to support the Library.

So at $45, quite a bit more than just a few dollars per capita - and the non-resident cards are also explicitly household cards. And as you yourself said, a lot of townspeople don’t use the library at all, or use it minimally - but they have no choice in terms of subsidy. So it seems virtually certain to me that someone who opts in at the same price is someone who’s going to be a heavier user.

I don’t know that “unfair” is the accurate term to use in these situations; the library sets a fee and people pay it. However, I think in a lot of cases the library doesn’t understand its costs and how they relate to this particular revenue stream, and that’s why libraries such as FLP and now Brooklyn have cut off non-residents; they finally crunched the numbers.

I’ve read 35 library books so far this year; let’s round that down to a rate of 60/year. Some of those were books with an unlimited license and no waitlist. But the vast majority were books with an exploding license or waitlist or both, so those transactions had a cost. It’s hard for me to see how $50 would cover that. And especially for libraries which offer Hoopla to paid patrons; Hoopla is hugely expensive.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Where did you see these numbers? I'm seeing 98,000 ebooks, 10,000 audiobooks. I don't see any breakdown for epubs vs. OverDrive Reads. I've only encountered OverDrive Reads for some magazines (but then again, I mostly access audiobooks).

Queens also uses Axis360 for ebooks and audiobooks; I don't know how many titles.

Use advanced search and filter on epub; that’s where I got the number. It’s a few thousand more than Kindle books. Similarly, you can filer by OverDrive Reads.

Knowing that Queens uses Axis360, I guessed that “OverDrive Reads” was search-speak for the Axis360 holdings. But in any case, it does seem as if epubs/Kindle books amount to half the ebook holdings.

https://queenslibrary.overdrive.com/...tBy=newlyadded

ETA: OK, I’ve looked around more and see you have to access the Axis360 books from the main library web page, so I was wrong about that. That’s a lot of magazines, then! And the 48,000 represents half the content on OverDrive alone.