Greetings from the Great Bend Public Library! This week, I wanted to discuss hoopla, a free app available to our patrons that offers thousands of audiobooks, ebooks, comics, music, movies, and even TV shows. Does that sound like a lot of hoopla? Well, it is! Hoopla is a great service we have offered since 2018. Our patrons love being able to check out the platform’s digital offerings on-demand, without waiting in line.
A service this great doesn’t come free, however. Hoopla costs the library anywhere from $0.99 to $3.99 per checkout depending on the item. Unfortunately, our funding for hoopla has run out. The service was previously mostly funded by the Central Kansas Library System, which provided hoopla for us as well as other libraries in the system. Our patrons have always been big hoopla users, but the Central Kansas Library System made the difficult decision to no longer fund hoopla in 2025 and left it up to individual libraries to decide if they wanted to continue covering the cost of the program on their own. This is something we want to keep, but we just can’t fit hoopla into our current budget, which leads us to where we are now: by the end of this month, we will no longer be able to support the service without donations. Currently, we have received $100 to fund hoopla, but to continue this service we need a minimum of $4,500. Sadly, if we are not able to raise these funds, this beloved library service will be no more.
We know many of our patrons use hoopla, which is why we are reaching out to our community for help. If we can raise the funds we will be able to continue to provide this well-loved service. Unfortunately, we are at the point where, without generosity from residents like yourself, we will lose hoopla by March 1. If you would like to contribute to our efforts to keep hoopla, you can do so via check (made out to Great Bend Public Library) or by Venmo (@GB-Public-Library). Please note, “For hoopla” in the memo or comment line. No donation is too small! After all, pennies turn to dollars, and if enough patrons pitch in, we can save this program. Thank you in advance for your contributions!
Hannah Grippin is the outreach manager at the Great Bend Public Library. To see what else we are up to at the library, find us on social media @greatbendpl and visit our website, greatbendpl.info. You can also message us on Facebook and Instagram, email us at gbcirc@gmail.com, or give us a call at 620-792-2409 with any questions about our programming or services.
