The Unhinged Librarian · Independent reporting on library technology

Selected reading

Trace the company. Check ownership. Examine an alternative.

Start with the company behind a familiar app. Check the record, read the reporting, then ask what building a library system would let you control.

Self-checkout kiosk and a Hoopla screen at Sandusky Library in 2014

Hoopla and self-checkout at Sandusky Library, 2014.

Who’s behind the library app?

Libby is built by OverDrive. An acquisition announcement tells another part of the story. Learn to trace the company and read what the record actually says.

By SamCompleted tutorial

Follow the company trail

Who owns Libby?

The reporting question behind the exercise: what does ownership mean for a service your library depends on?

Reporting draftRevised October 25

The article’s evidence sheet links to the dated announcements and states what remains unknown.

What changes when you can inspect the system?

The L/30 build account asks what a library could control itself, and what it would have to maintain.

Revised build account

An infrastructure experiment, not a replacement for licensed ebook services.

Browse the writing

Keep working through the question

Find a board attachment in the completed public-records walkthrough, or trace who made the library app in the completed app-company walkthrough.

See what changed

The person behind the pages

Hi, I’m Sam.

I’ve sold library technology, bought it, supported it, and built it. Nearly 20 years on both sides of those decisions is why I follow the contracts and ownership records, explain the machinery, and test alternatives.

More about me