We all love our libraries, and many of us lean on them more in tough times when we’re counting our pennies and trying to be more mindful of our consumption. But when is the best time to ask our library to stock our favorite books, especially by unknown smaller authors?

Answer: Right now.

Understanding Your Library and Purchasing:

My friends and brothers and sisters in reading, it is the end of the fiscal year for many libraries around the country. (Usually ends in June, but they often need to wind down purchases by April 15th.) That means, many libraries have money left over in their book purchasing budgets, and they HAVE to use that money before the end of the fiscal year. If you’ve ever wanted them to buy a license for an ebook or purchase a paperback, now is the time to request it and ask for the moon. (Reminder that authors in KU cannot sell licenses to Libby, but you can request their paperbacks!) Ask for a paperback of Haunting Adeline if they don’t already have it, or ask for a Meghan Quinn or Pippa Grant paperback. Ask for more Fourth Wing licenses on Libby! Ask for a paperback of a small indie author’s book called Contact High. (ahem ahem.) They work like any corporation, so if there’s money leftover at the end of the fiscal year, not only do they lose it, but the people in charge may then decide to reduce the budget next year.

See, friends, if you use your library regularly, they have data to show their board that so many checkouts are happening. That means, community leaders know it’s being used and are more likely to keep funding it. If you don’t use libraries, funding is cut. So use them without shame and request without guilt!!! Be obnoxious about it. Tell everyone to use the damn library and get their requests in to the point of annoyance.

But Wait…I Want to Help Indies. Don’t I Have to Buy the Book?:

Authors get royalties when a library buys our paperbacks or buys a Libby license from us. We also get paid per checkout with Hoopla. I know there was some false discourse on social media recently when an absolutely moronic author on Threads tried to tell people authors earn nothing from libraries and libraries hurt authors more than help, but it’s bunk. Absolute trash info. Fake news, if you prefer. In fact, in some countries (not the US) authors actually get paid per checkout of their paperback. Rest assured, we are getting some kind of royalty, whether royalty from a license purchase or per checkout royalty when you use the library.

How do I request a paperback?

You have a couple options. First, check your local library’s website to see if they have a “request a title” section. Fill out the title and author info, ISBN if you have that info, but ISBN is not necessary. They can usually find it by title and author. You can also call or visit in person and ask the librarian you talk to about adding it to the collection. That’s it. They then decide if it’s in the budget. (And that’s why we’re asking now at the end of the fiscal year. You’re more likely to get it this spring.) Don’t be offended if they don’t buy it. They can’t buy everything, but it’s worth a try. If you ask for a lot and get half of what you ask for, it’s a huge win.

How do I request a Libby purchase?

This one has a couple steps. First, search Libby by author name. If your library doesn’t already have a license for the book/s, their book will come up without a “borrow” or “place hold” choice. Click on “Notify Me” and that’s it. Libby sends it to your library anonymously and tells them a patron is interested in that book. It’s then up to your purchasing department to decide if they’ll roll the dice on a library license.

It’s worth mentioning that if a library system has both Libby and Hoopla, and the book is already on Hoopla, they probably WON’T buy a LIbby license for it. Keep that in mind and just pop over to Hoopla to read. Libraries aren’t going to double up on paying for eBooks.

What is Hoopla?

If you’re not sure if your library has it, ask them. Hoopla is another eBook service that costs the library per checkout instead of per license like Libby. I get paid every time you check out one of my books from Hoopla, which is why they sometimes don’t have bigger authors like CoHo or Emily Henry. That would break a library, so they often buy Libby licenses for bigger authors instead. They have the ability to turn off certain authors or books in Hoopla at the library level. Again, you won’t see books in both places very often.

Books I have in Hoopla: the entire Jensen City Heroes collection.

Cloud Library:

This is another type of library app some libraries may have instead of Hoopla and Libby. Ask your librarians about it and how to get your favorite indie books with them. Librarians are good at helping!

Get those FREE library cards and start requesting what you want, will ya? Your tax dollars are already paying for it.