Follow the ownership, the license, and the workflow before deciding what an alternative would have to change.
What particular libraries authorized for analytics, what unused license capacity actually costs, and whether an alternative workflow improves the task without creating another dependency still require bounded tests and records.
Libby is a vendor product, not a public library. A short guide to who owns it, why the ownership record matters, and what to ask before renewal.
EbooksOwnershipVendors
Why an ebook that costs a consumer $14.99 costs your public library $60 for 24 months, and what three of the Big Five raised in 2024.
Ebooks
A patron asks why she can't save the ebook she borrowed from Libby. You explain it disappears when the lending period ends. She asks why. You realize you've never fully explained why. Here's the answer.
Ebooks
Part of the Digital lending record
At this year's Library Insights Summit, a librarian named the reason small-press books rarely make it onto library shelves. The diagnosis was sharp. The advice stopped one step short of it.
Library systems
OverDrive built a new product out of how reading happens inside Libby and Sora.
EbooksVendors
Part of the Digital lending record
A chronology of digital lending, ownership, licensing, and public records. Source notes identify both the evidence and unresolved retrieval work.
EbooksOwnership
Part of the Libby, ownership & ebook terms
Explore cost per loan using a license price and loan count. Example inputs are scenarios, not observed library spending.
Ebooks
Part of the Digital lending record
MarcForge is an open-source experiment in a standalone MARC workflow. Here is the gap it tests, what exists, and what remains unproven.
CatalogingExperiments
L/30 is an open-source sandbox for testing what a library can control when the code, data model, and deployment are inspectable.
Open infrastructureExperiments