Be a Good Digital Neighbor: Helpful Habits for Libby and hoopla

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Be a Good Digital Neighbor: Helpful Habits for Libby and hoopla

April 15, 2026

Beginning Friday, May 1, 2026 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County libraries are instituting a Daily Spending Cap on Hoopla. The spending cap is a dollar amount limit the library sets which, once reached, pauses checkouts until the next day. The day restarts at midnight local time. 

You can learn more about these changes and why we have to make them here. 

While the Daily Spending Cap will likely change how you interact with the Hoopla platform, here are a few tips to ease this adjustment.  

Favorites:

Your “Favorites” list in Hoopla helps you keep track of materials you would like to borrow. Use your favorites list to guide your choices so that you have titles you know you want to check out. 

When you click the heart icon in hoopla, that person, item or series is added to your Favorites list. You can keep track of new releases from your favorite authors, musicians, comic book artists, TV series and more with Favorites.

BingePass:

BingePass gives you unlimited access to an entire collection of content for seven days and only counts as one borrow. In hoopla, under “Browse,” navigate to “BingePass” and choose from the curated collection of content. With one BingePass borrow, you’ll be able to access all the content within that BingePass for seven days even if the Daily Spending Cap is reached on those days.

Bonus Borrows:  

Bonus Borrows are unique collections that are available the last seven days of every month and not impacted by the Daily Spending Cap. Bonus Borrows let you borrow eBooks, eAudiobooks, movies, and more. Bonus Borrows do not count toward the Daily Spending Cap, and they do not count as part of your 5 borrows per month.   

It is possible that with the Daily Spending Cap on Hoopla, there will be an increase in holds on Libby. We will do our best to meet demand, but the following are some ways you can also help move items through the queue more quickly. 

  • Check the wait times on multiple formats (print, eBook, eAudiobook) before placing your holds. 
  • Do not freeze holds indefinitely. Instead, remove the hold and tag the title for later. 
  • Cancel your hold if you’re no longer interested. 
  • Borrow for 7, 14 or 21 days depending on your personal habits. 
  • Return items as soon as you’re done or no longer interested. 

Once the change goes into effect, we will be monitoring turnaway statistics and the user experience.  

We recognize that the Daily Spending Cap will likely alter how most of us use Hoopla. Thank you for your ongoing understanding while this service continues to evolve.