Meeting Minutes for 08/21/2024

eResource Committee Meeting
08/21/2024

• Hiveclass is an e-learning platform for mind+body wellness.
• Demo Reel
• Basic Information
• Vendor Questionnaire Response
• They typically do not work with academic libraries and have a different product for schools.

Q & A

• Q: Do you have MARC records available?
• A: HiveClass has been discussing MARC records with several companies and partnering with them on the service, a phase I conversation. If a large entity like Marmot requires it, it gets moved to phase II, a tentative yes. 
• Q: How often are classes added?
• A: HiveClass has a product roadmap for the future. They are developing about 150 videos for elementary-aged students (K-5) that will be available in the fall. The videos will be specific to activities, developmental skills, and physical skills focused on those age levels because they vastly differ from sports-based skills. They also have four courses on the roadmap, some of which are badminton, flag football, and cricket. They may have four additional units in dance within the next twelve months. In self-defense, they are adding Tai Chi and more variations of self-defense in the next twelve months. 

Marmot Member Discussion

• Someone commented that they are not thrilled that the video sessions are short instead of being an entire yoga class. 
• As someone with kids who sometimes watch “exercise videos” on YouTube, I can attest that the exercise they get from those videos usually pales compared to the exercise they get outside.
• The supplemental materials are interesting.
• Leary of vendors that promote products to libraries that do not have MARC records, so they do not have any way to connect their resources to a library’s catalog. 
• I was not fond of the fact that they did not have an app.
• It is contradictory for a product to be screen-driven and video-based when discussing physical activities. People go to videos to learn, but the whole social thing about getting out with people is missing from this product. It seems very solitary. Also, it might be better to have live instruction available with this product. Someone else commented that they would like full live classes offered.
• We are in a tough market in Colorado because so many people are so active. This product does look valuable for people in nursing homes or who have a sedentary lifestyle. Udemy also offers yoga classes.  
  • Some replied that Senior Planet offers many classes for free for folks who are at home or cannot go out to classes for any reason.
• The consensus is that this group did not want to pursue this as an all-in contract. If individual libraries are interested in the opt-in price, they can inform Tammy or contact the vendor directly. 

Other Business

• Other Vendors
  • Adam inquired about the timing of public library budget decisions and wondered about interest in specific vendors or providers for the 2025 budget request process.  
  • No response with a vendor request.
  • Library members who did not attend the meeting and are interested in seeing a demo from a new vendor in the next few months should contact Adam. 
• MLN2 Front Range Downloadable Library  - OverDrive 
  • Adam asked Gina if she had any updates on their new approach to OverDrive purchasing guidelines.
  • Gina shared that all the MLN2 libraries had adopted the Advantage Plus accounts. They used to buy just for the consortium, but the holds became overwhelming, so they adopted the Advantage Plus model to match the title priority paging they do for their members, bringing down the holds. 
  • Gina mentioned that they are considering not even purchasing titles for the consortium and having each member buy their copies in their Advantage accounts. They will meet in September to discuss this option again.    
  • Gina asked how Marmot works with their OverDrive members to purchase titles.
    • Tammy replied that they stopped allowing people access to purchase titles using their consortium logins. Everything has to be bought with an Advantage account. The consortium logins can only be used to run statistical reports and open support tickets. 
      • To reduce the holds, every member should share all the titles they purchased manually or automatically.
    • Marmot used to allow consortium purchasing and charge a fee to help bring down the holds. A couple of members spent time monthly purchasing copies to bring down the holds on the consortium titles. It was getting too much for them to keep up with this process. That is when the idea of Advantage Plus Sharing was decided to replace consortium purchasing.
    • Vail mentioned that having OverDrive would be much more expensive without the Advantage Plus Share option. Vail is all for the Advantage collection.
    • Others agreed that the variety and number of copies the group can purchase together far outweigh their ability to fulfill the growing interest and use with their set budget.
    • Grand County appreciates the Advantage Plus sharing. They increased their OverDrive budget this year because they recognize that their branches are open fewer hours than other libraries. However, they still borrow more than they lend with physical items, and this way, they can contribute back to Marmot by purchasing OverDrive titles. 
    • Tammy also mentioned that Marmot OverDrive still purchases shared simultaneous-use titles through Blackstone Audio and Duke Classics, and the cost is shared among the members.    
  • Gina mentioned that purchasing models are complex. One way they buy down holds is through the CPC model. If you buy the CPC model in your Advantage account, then it looks to every other member that the title is available to them, but it’s not a shared copy. They use CPC restrictively on a case-by-case basis. They buy CPC through the consortium shared account to share it widely with all the members. OverDrive is 40% of their circulation.
    • Mesa County replied that they have been buying many Cost per Circ titles to help keep down holds and fulfill requests for older titles. This has helped them keep costs down. They are always appreciative when they see that Marmot owns a copy of a title on the consortium level.
    • Marmot addressed this issue of the Cost Per Circ (CPC) titles having the wrong availability shown in Pika and the Marmot OverDrive site with a short PowerPoint presentation and documentation in their Knowledge Base.
• Hoopla Conversation
  • Gina wondered if other members had Hoopla and what their experience was with it. Gina mentioned that it has plateaued for them and never gets more than a certain monthly usage because it is budget-driven.
    • Grand County has had Hoopla for two years, and its use skyrocketed in the first 18 months. However, it also plateaued.
    • Vail mentioned that the Hoopla app is less stable than the OverDrive Libby app. Sometimes, the title on Hoopla needs to be reloaded because it stops playing.  
    • Wilkinson commented that Hoopla eBooks only work with Kindle Fire and not regular Kindles, which limits the number of people who can use them.
    • Ashley mentioned that if you have been considering using Hoopla Flex, Pika has some handling for that collection. It is a unique sideload that does not have the same integration for patrons that will send them to the Hoopla site. The Pika team has been working with the folks at Midwest Tape with the Hoopla Flex process.  

The next meeting is on December 4th at 10:00 a.m.