Jackson County Library Services is seeing a significant uptick in checkouts of digital materials.
This trajectory is plainly illustrated within the last year alone. Circulation data shows 544,448 digital checkouts from July 2025 to May 2026, a jump of about 8.6% from the 501,329 reported in the previous period.
Such checkouts include audiobooks, ebooks, movies, and music downloaded from applications including Libby, Kanopy, and Hoopla, which are all available for free with a JCLS library card. Patrons can then access those materials on smartphones, tablets, and computers. And, in some cases, TVs!
For years, JCLS has had access to a collection of digital materials shared with library systems across Oregon. The popularity of this collection can result in longer wait times for digital materials and can make local oversight of the available materials challenging. That’s why JCLS will be moving to its own collection, starting on July 1.
Think of it as Digital Independence Day. The move will result in better management of our digital collection and responsiveness to the needs of our local users.
“Our community’s interest in digital materials has grown quite a bit, even since I started my position last year,” says JCLS Digital Selection Librarian, April Bozada-Armstrong. “We’ve seen quite a bit of growth.”
“There’s basically a patron checking out an ebook, an audiobook, or a magazine every minute, so keeping up with that demand is challenging,” she adds.
Collection clarity
Historically, JCLS’s Libby materials have been shared with the Oregon Digital Library Consortium (ODLC). Libby users know this combined collection as Library2Go. For an annual fee, JCLS has been able to vote for members of the Consortium’s board of directors and received access to their collection..
But that access is shared with other library systems across the state, and the collection is managed at the Consortium level. In addition to the ODLC collection, JCLS patrons also have access to a collection of Libby items selected and managed by JCLS. Each month, about 60 to 70% of what JCLS patrons check out has been from that locally managed collection. The current JCLS collection will transfer over and form the base of the new Libby collection. JCLS will be able to build from there with new materials, too.
Leveling up
The move will increase hold limits from 6 to 10 per patron. It will also make for a clearer understanding of when the Digital Selection Librarian needs to buy more copies of titles, based on popularity and cost.
“We’ll have better eyes on things,” April says.
Getting back to it
There will be limited down time on July 1 as the collection is moved over.
Once the new collection is live, users will need to open Libby and use ‘Add Library’ to find Jackson County Library Services. Users can sign in with their JCLS library card number and PIN as normal. All their account information should be the same once they log in. Holds (and) tags that they have should remain there.
There are a few instances where holds will not transfer over if they are materials licensed by the ODLC. Other than that, it should be a simple sign-in process.
“You’ll just be back to using Libby as normal,” April says. “Only now, we’ll be able to tailor the experience to our users, and that’s something we’re really excited about.”