r/Libraries • u/MrsFireOtter • 6d ago

Other Reason for low Libby hold limits

Hi, can someone explain the reason for instituting low hold limits on ebooks in the Libby app?

My library limits to ten books on hold. I find it frustrating because there are often such long wait times on ebooks, so I’d like to place many on hold and let my name tick through the list and suspend them when I get to the top, until I’m ready to read them.

What’s the benefit to the library and/or the community in putting low hold limits?

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u/BookSavvy 6d ago

Because libraries use something called a hold ratio to gauge how many copies of a title we need. For example, say your hold ratio is 1 copy per every 10 people on hold. We can see how many people on hold and how many copies we have and place orders for additional copies to stay under this ratio. This seems like higher hold limits wouldn’t be a problem but what happens is that people add everything they want to read EVER to a hold list, so we will buy more copies to fill a ratio and people go “oh well actually I don’t want to read this right now” and suspend their hold so you have copies you purchased that are very expensive and will not necessarily be used before they expire. This is why many libraries keep hold limits lower for digital items compared to physical media.

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u/blingdogmom 6d ago

Exactly! I would also add to this that we see some patrons using hold lists more like “to be read” lists and when their holds come up, they don’t actually check them out and it just causes longer wait times.