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Librarian here. Please utilize the services your public library makes available to you for free! Even virtual usage is enough to convince cities to not lower bu

Librarian here. Please utilize the services your public library makes available to you for free! Even virtual usage is enough to convince cities to not lower budgets. We took massive hits to usage during the pandemic lockdowns, but you don't need to always come in to use your library! Look out for Kanopy, Hoopla and Libby and more at your local library!

throwawaygog6 4y ago
What is the best way to contact libraries/librarians for API access to their library? I want to build an app which will dump me in random pages of my checkouted books, instead of me gathering energy to do it. I have other features planned. I am stuck with how to interface with my local library, like Libby does. Any ideas ?
- shannifin 4y ago
  Just call 'em up and ask around, or send an email, I suppose. There's gotta be somebody there who knows. Granted, they're unlikely to just give you special access, but you could at least learn something.
- thebitstick 4y ago
  Librarian here. Libraries are just paying for the ability to offer Libby to patrons. Libby then taps into a login API for the ILS a library uses to check if a patron's library card and PIN are tied to an eligible account, and Libby offers its own content based on whatever each library can afford to offer. You would need to offer your own content, ultimately, with the Libby model. Same goes for OverDrive, Hoopla and Kanopy.
dwighttk 4y ago
My library has been really curtailing the amount I can use Hoopla… Libby is pretty good as long as I can find a less popular book (or wait in line), but Hoopla is almost always already at the daily lending limit.
autoexec 4y ago
Kanopy's prvacy policy says they collect data on the people using their service (including GPS coordinates), and they sell/share data with other 3rd parties including allowing Google to collect data on their users. They've also failed to reasonably secure user's data which has resulted in at least one data breach (https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/kanopy-streaming-data-breach/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/kanopy-streaming-...) I haven't looked into Hoopla and Libby's policies yet, but I'd be willing to bet they're doing the same. Librarians have traditionally been very concerned with preserving the right to access content and information of all kinds without being monitored. They fought hard (and lost) against the US government being able to collect lists of the books and media users checked out from the library. It's odd to see a librarian advocate for people to use 3rd party services which will do exactly that along with far more invasive tracking. I'm not just calling you out on this, although some have backed away from these services for various reasons (https://billypenn.com/2021/07/20/free-library-kanopy-movies-streaming-philadelphia-hoopla-discontinued/ https://billypenn.com/2021/07/20/free-library-kanopy-movies-...) libraries around the country have embraced services which can track, censor, and put library user's data, privacy, and safety at risk. They advertise and push these services onto library patrons without informing them of the risks and without any mention of what card holders will be giving up by using them. Leaving it to library users to seek out and read through corporate privacy policies full of legal language and weasel wording seems very wrong to me. In the US, as library card holders, we can't keep our reading lists out of the hands of the state, but we can do more to keep it out of the hands of private for profit companies and data brokers. I'm not saying there's no place for these types of services in libraries (although I'd love to see similar systems developed and operated entirely by library systems instead of 3rd parties), I just wish more libraries were looking out for the privacy of their users and were willing to do more of what they do best: keeping the people informed.
- mixmastamyk 4y ago
  I don’t think my Mac allows GPS to be passed, but IP gives an approximation. Not sure how to get around that. Do you know if the library gives my address, etc?
  - 4y ago

throwawaygog6 4y ago

What is the best way to contact libraries/librarians for API access to their library? I want to build an app which will dump me in random pages of my checkouted books, instead of me gathering energy to do it. I have other features planned. I am stuck with how to interface with my local library, like Libby does. Any ideas ?

shannifin 4y ago
Just call 'em up and ask around, or send an email, I suppose. There's gotta be somebody there who knows. Granted, they're unlikely to just give you special access, but you could at least learn something.
thebitstick 4y ago
Librarian here. Libraries are just paying for the ability to offer Libby to patrons. Libby then taps into a login API for the ILS a library uses to check if a patron's library card and PIN are tied to an eligible account, and Libby offers its own content based on whatever each library can afford to offer. You would need to offer your own content, ultimately, with the Libby model. Same goes for OverDrive, Hoopla and Kanopy.

dwighttk 4y ago

My library has been really curtailing the amount I can use Hoopla… Libby is pretty good as long as I can find a less popular book (or wait in line), but Hoopla is almost always already at the daily lending limit.

autoexec 4y ago

Kanopy's prvacy policy says they collect data on the people using their service (including GPS coordinates), and they sell/share data with other 3rd parties including allowing Google to collect data on their users. They've also failed to reasonably secure user's data which has resulted in at least one data breach (https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/kanopy-streaming-data-breach/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/kanopy-streaming-...) I haven't looked into Hoopla and Libby's policies yet, but I'd be willing to bet they're doing the same. Librarians have traditionally been very concerned with preserving the right to access content and information of all kinds without being monitored. They fought hard (and lost) against the US government being able to collect lists of the books and media users checked out from the library. It's odd to see a librarian advocate for people to use 3rd party services which will do exactly that along with far more invasive tracking. I'm not just calling you out on this, although some have backed away from these services for various reasons (https://billypenn.com/2021/07/20/free-library-kanopy-movies-streaming-philadelphia-hoopla-discontinued/ https://billypenn.com/2021/07/20/free-library-kanopy-movies-...) libraries around the country have embraced services which can track, censor, and put library user's data, privacy, and safety at risk. They advertise and push these services onto library patrons without informing them of the risks and without any mention of what card holders will be giving up by using them. Leaving it to library users to seek out and read through corporate privacy policies full of legal language and weasel wording seems very wrong to me. In the US, as library card holders, we can't keep our reading lists out of the hands of the state, but we can do more to keep it out of the hands of private for profit companies and data brokers. I'm not saying there's no place for these types of services in libraries (although I'd love to see similar systems developed and operated entirely by library systems instead of 3rd parties), I just wish more libraries were looking out for the privacy of their users and were willing to do more of what they do best: keeping the people informed.

mixmastamyk 4y ago
I don’t think my Mac allows GPS to be passed, but IP gives an approximation. Not sure how to get around that. Do you know if the library gives my address, etc?
- 4y ago