FAQs

We can move all of your Libby (powered by OverDrive) account information, including checkouts, holds, history and wish lists to your new library card number. 

Please login to the Libby app with your new card number (or online at LibbyApp.com, opens a new window) before submitting your information. 

Then visit our form page, opens a new window and follow the simple steps.

Helpful links for this process:

• Libby Help: Adding library cards, opens a new window
• Libby Help: Removing a card, opens a new window

Our form is not for general help using our digital book services. Please call Infoline at 520-791-4010 or see our Digital Media Help page for general help.

Only use this form if you received a replacement library card, and you use Libby (powered by OverDrive).

On May 1, 2023, OverDrive discontinued the OverDrive app. This means that the OverDrive app is no longer available for anyone to install on their computers, smartphones, or tablets.

On November 13, 2024, OverDrive will remove the MP3 audiobook format, and will stop supporting the OverDrive desktop app for Windows and Mac. You can download audiobooks using the Libby app, opens a new window instead.

To listen to MP3 audiobooks, you can:

• Get the Libby app on your smartphone or tablet
• Listen to audiobooks in your browser on the Library's OverDrive website
• Listen to audiobooks in your browser on LibbyApp.com

OverDrive is a subscription service the Library provides, and how it works is completely managed by OverDrive itself. The Library does not have control over how their system works and cannot reinstate the OverDrive app.

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Hoopla has eBooks, eAudiobooks, comics and graphic novels, streaming movies and TV, magazines, and music.

Checkouts per month: 5
Running out of checkouts? Try Binge Passes or Hoopla Bonus Borrows

What's in Hoopla?

• eBooks
• Audiobooks
• Comics
• Movies and documentaries
• Television - Hoopla has over 1,600 Acorn TV episodes!
• Music
• Magazines - Use Binge Passes to access 50 magazines

Getting started with Hoopla

Use these resources to get going.

• Online: Help pages
  • Hoopla works on Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Alexa
• Training videos: Hoopla Digital on Vimeo
• How to set up your Hoopla account

Get the app

Apple Store | Google Play | Amazon

What devices work with Hoopla?

See a full list at the  Hoopla Help site. Click on Supported Devices to see full list.

Using a Kindle Fire? Hoopa works with Fire OS 5.0.0 and newer:

• 4th Generation (2014): Kindle Fire HD 6”, Fire HD 7", Fire HDX 8.9”
• 5th Generation (2015): Kindle Fire
• 6th Generation (2016): Kindle Fire HD 8”
• 7th Generation (2017): Kindle Fire 7”, Fire HD 8", Fire HD 10”
• 8th Generation (2018): Kindle Fire HD 8"

Changing libraries in your Hoopla account

If you've recently moved from another library to Pima County Public Library (PCPL), you can update your library information, so that you can use your PCPL library card with your existing email address in Hoopla.

In the Hoopla app

• Go to Settings
• Tap the library name listed under the Library heading
• Search for Pima County Public Library
• Tap Pima County Public Library

On the Hoopla website

• Click the gear icon to go to Setting
• Go to the Library tab on the Settings page
• Search for Pima County Public Library
• Click on Pima County Public Library - you will see a blue checkmark to the right of the name which indicates it is the active library

This will reset your account to use PCPL's collection. If you use other libraries, you will have to change this setting each time to use a different library's collection.

Troubleshooting

If you have technical problems, please contact Hoopla Support.

By email: Send help request to Hoopla Support

If you see this error message:

Sorry, it appears that something is wrong with your library card or PIN. Please double check your info in settings and if you still have issues contact your local library at 520-791-4010 for support.

Try this:

• From the Hoopla website: Log in and click Settings in the upper right. Click Library Settings.
• From the iOS app: Tap the Settings icon in the upper-right corner. Tap Library Settings.
• From the Android app: Tap the Menu icon in the upper-right corner. Tap Settings.

Once there:

• Confirm you have selected Pima County County Library.
• Reenter your library card number and PIN.
• Click Save.

If that doesn't solve the problem, please send a help request to Hoopla Support.

If you saw a title in our catalog, but Hoopla says it is unavailable

Hoopla is a cost per use model, which means that the Library pays a small fee each time an item is borrowed. Our budget is not unlimited, so we've had to place a 5-per-month borrow limit per cardholder. We also have a price cap on the titles we can make available for you to borrow in Hoopla, so that titles that cost more than our cap are not available .

Sometimes an item changes price within Hoopla, depending on the price set by the publisher. If the publisher increases the price to Hoopla, that increases the Library's cost. Occasionally, an item's price bumps up above our price cap. When that happens it can take up to a month for our catalog records to synch, so you may see it in our catalog, but get over to Hoopla and not be able to borrow it.

We apologize for this inconvenience. The good news is that about 90% of what Hoopla offers is within our price cap.

Collective daily borrow limit

In addition to your monthly limit and our price cap, to keep the cost of Hoopla within the Library's budget, we have a daily borrow limit.

On occasion you might run into the following error message, even if you have monthly borrows left.

The collective daily borrow limit set by your library has been reached and will be reset at midnight. Please browse and add titles to favorites so you can easily access them after midnight.

This message means that the Library as a whole has hit our daily limit. The limit resets the following day, so check back after midnight to check out your title. We know this is an inconvenience for you. We wish we could keep everything unlimited, but simply do not have the budget to do that. 

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We now offer ebooks, digital audiobooks, digital comics and graphic novels, streaming movies and TV, and streaming music via Hoopla. Every cardholder has five (5) checkouts per month on Hoopla. Your checkouts reset at the beginning of the month and remaining checkouts do not roll over to the next month.

• If you'd like to learn to use Hoopla, try these training videos on vimeo.
• Browse all titles we have in Hoopla in the catalog.
• Go directly to Hoopla to sign in or set up your account.

In the catalog, you will see items with a link that says, "Check out now on Hoopla." When you click on the link, you'll be sent to the Library's Hoopla site. You will need to set up an account. Here are the steps you'll take to set up your Hoopla account.

Step 1: After clicking on the Check out now on Hoopla link in the catalog, you will be sent to the item's record in Hoopla

Step 2: Create your account. You will need to take note of the email and password you use to create your account. The Library cannot retrieve this for you.

Step 3: Choose Pima County Public Library (Tucson, AZ) to connect with our Hoopla collection.

Step 4: Enter your library card number and PIN.

Step 5: Account created! Read through the information on the screen, then click on Done.

What devices work with Hoopla?

See a full list at the  Hoopla Help site. Click on Supported Devices to see full list.

Using a Kindle Fire? Hoopla works with Fire OS 5.0.0 and newer:

• 4th Generation (2014): Kindle Fire HD 6”, Fire HD 7", Fire HDX 8.9”
• 5th Generation (2015): Kindle Fire
• 6th Generation (2016): Kindle Fire HD 8”
• 7th Generation (2017): Kindle Fire 7”, Fire HD 8", Fire HD 10”
• 8th Generation (2018): Kindle Fire HD 8"

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You may be able to login to your Hoopla account normally after a card number change, but you will need to update your card number in your Hoopla settings before you can borrow anything.

You may get this error:

Click here to access your library settings in Hoopla, opens a new window

Confused about where your digital notices are coming from and where to borrow titles when your notices arrive? Here's everything you need to know.

First, a little background. OverDrive is a digital content service we use to offer our patrons ebooks, downloadable audiobooks, and magazines. The Library's OverDrive catalog is available online at pima.overdrive.com without downloading Libby. Libby is the mobile app built by OverDrive. All the same content, two different access points.

Notices from OverDrive

For users of OverDrive, notifications will come by email and look like this:

Clicking on Holds will take you to pima.overdrive.com where you can borrow your reserved digital item in your browser. If you use the Libby app but you still receive email notices from OverDrive, please see below to learn about push notifications from Libby.

Notices from Libby

If you use the Libby app and want to receive push notifications on your mobile device, you must sign up for those in the app. Here's how:

1. Tap the Menu icon, then Notifications (under "Settings").
2. If prompted, allow Libby to send push notifications.
3. Choose how to be notified for each event: Ignore (no notification), Shelf notice (in-app notification), or Notification (push notification).

If you use Libby but prefer email notifications, disable push notifications for the app in the Settings on your device.

Emails from Libby look like this and have a link to open the app where you can borrow your digital title.

For more information about notifications from OverDrive/Libby, please visit these links from Libby Help:

Managing notifications (This article includes a short how-to video)

I'm not getting push notifications for Libby

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What is Freegal Music?

Offering over 18 million songs belonging to 200+ genres— including Sony Music’s catalog of legendary artists— Freegal Music+ is one of the most popular library services in the world, and with 200,000 songs added monthly, there’s always something new for listeners to discover. All you need is your library card (and pin number) to join our 2.5 million+ users in browsing through our vast collection of today’s top hits, yesterday’s favorites, and curated playlists made just for you.

How does Freegal Music work?

Freegal Music+ was designed to browse or search for your favorite music and allow you to both stream and download music. On the desktop (browser), your download limit and streaming time is located at the top of the web page to the left of the search bar. On the mobile app, you’ll find the download limit under Settings.

Pima County Public Library card holders have a download limit of 5 songs a week, and a daily streaming limit of 3 hours. Your download limit will reset every Monday at 12:00am (Central Time, USA). Your streaming timer will reset daily at 12:00am (Central Time, USA).

On the homepage, you’ll find curated content containing featured songs and various categories you can discover and explore. You can also search for music with our new AI-search algorithms or browse genres.

Why are there limits on the number of downloads I can make? What does "Download limit met" mean?

The limit allows the maximum number of patrons to have equal access to the songs in the Freegal Music+ Service. Once you have used all of your downloads for the week, the “Download limit met” notification appears.

What's the difference between downloading and streaming?

When you download a song, you can keep the file on a permanent basis. Streaming is accessing the file on a temporary basis while being connected to the Internet. Streaming gives you access to more music since downloads are limited. Your daily streaming limit is persistent at the top of your Freegal+ desktop (browser), or in the Settings found from the hamburger menu on the mobile app.

If my device crashes and I lose my music, can Freegal restore it?

No. Because of licensing agreements, we are unable to restore music that has been lost once downloaded to your device or computer. 

We highly recommend backing up your files locally or in the cloud. For example, if you have your music library in your Music app (Apple), you could back up your songs to iCloud. 

For Android devices, you can backup files to the cloud using your Google Drive account. 

Again, once music is downloaded from Freegal Music+, it is yours to keep. Backing up your devices is always recommended, and if you elect not to do this, we cannot restore your downloaded music.

What if I get a new library card?

Please back up your Freegal music before you get a new card. Contact Freegal's Support team for assistance transferring your streaming playlists. 

Much more information about Freegal and what you can do with your downloaded songs is available on their FAQ page.

• View all Freegal FAQs

OverDrive / Libby doesn't have parental controls, but you can limit your browsing and searching to content intended for specific audiences.

In the OverDrive website in your browser:

1. Go to the Library's OverDrive page at pima.overdrive.com
2. Log in with your library card number and PIN
3. Go to My Account, then Settings
4. Scroll down to Content Preferences and select the types of content you want to see when browsing or searching the collection.

Content Controls in the Libby app:

Content controls manage access to titles in Libby based on the audience categories assigned to them. By default, all users are assigned the "Libby for Everyone" preset, where no titles are restricted or hidden.

You can set content controls by going to Menu  > Content Controls (under "Settings").

There are three presets to choose from:

• Libby for Everyone (default). With this preset, you choose how each audience category is handled in Libby, starting with mature content. Choose whether those titles appear in deep search; if they can be sampled, borrowed, or placed on hold; and if their cover images are shown.
  When you disable a toggle (like allow samples) for an audience category, you'll see the same toggle appear for the next audience category. Show cover images is an exception; it only applies to mature content.

Click the image to see larger

• Libby for Kids. With this preset, general content and mature content is hidden in the Library and Search screens of the app. No titles are hidden from the Shelf or Tags screens.
• Libby for Grown-ups. With this preset, juvenile and young adult titles are hidden in the Library and Search screens.

If you use Libby on multiple devices, you'll need to set up content controls on each one. Content controls don't sync between devices.

You can also visit your library's kids section in Libby:

1. Open the Libby app
2. Tap your library's home screen in Libby
3. Scroll down to Guides, then tap Kids.

This takes you to the Library's OverDrive Kids collection. There is also a collection for teens.

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Shouldn't digital mean that anyone can get a book at any time?

This can be a hard issue to explain for libraries. Publishers of econtent (eBooks and downloadable audiobooks) have control over how they license their books to libraries and library vendors like OverDrive.

This is a universal issue in public libraries, and advocates are working continuously to improve the situation. You can read more about it in this statement from the Urban Libraries Council.

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Do you wish you had access to more digital books and could easily find them when you wanted? We share OverDrive titles across 10 libraries so you can find more to read.

As PCPL cardholders, we can see books that are currently available to check out from each of these 10 partner libraries, and check them out for a period of time set by each library. We can’t place holds on their stuff and they can’t place holds on ours, but we can read what they’re not reading right now and vice versa! That's over 90 total books we could have checked out at any point in time! (Please borrow responsibly. Some of our books are only licensed to us for a length of time or a number of checkouts and then they disappear.)

Finding out if a book you seek is at another library is easier than ever with Libby! Whether you’re using the Libby app on your device or Libbyapp.com in a browser, you can see if a book with holds in our collection is available in someone else’s.

Here's how you do it:

First, you’ll need to add the partner libraries in the consortium to your libraries tab on the Libby app. (Click to see larger images.)

Step 1

Tap the menu icon in the bottom middle of the Libby screen to get to your settings. Then tap Add a Library.

Step 2

Type a library name from this list of partner libraries in Arizona.

When you see the partner library's full name appear, tap or click it. For this example, I chose Navajo County Library District.

Step 3

Once you've chosen your library, tap or click Sign In With My Card.

This is where you'll use your Pima County Public Library card as a key to unlock access to our partner libraries.

On the next screen, click the dark gray button at the bottom for More.

Scroll down to "Pima County Public Library" and tap or click it. (Be sure you don't select Pima Public Library, which is a small town library in Pima, AZ).

Step 4

Enter your Pima County Public Library card number and pin, then tap Sign In.

The next screen will show that you have gained access to the partner library. Click Next and you'll be taken to that library's Libby catalog where you can start borrowing immediately!

For this example we chose Navajo County Library District.

Step 5

Test that your new card was added correctly! You'll be able to tell by searching for a book on Libby, and clicking the card icon in the top right corner of the catalog listing.

You can add as many of our ten partner libraries as you'd like. Any library you add will be included in your Libby searches so you can find even more great reads with ease!

For tips, instructions, and help using Libby please visit Libby Help Pages. You can also get help with other digital media through our Digital Media Help page.

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