How to Use Hoopla

Hi, in this video, I’m going to show you how to sign up for and get titles through Hoopla. Hoopla is a free service with your library card that offers streaming of movies, tv shows, music, audiobooks, eBooks, and comics on your computer or device. Hoopla is great because there are no holds lists-everything on Hoopla is always available. There are no fines, everything you check out through Hoopla expires on the due date and is returned automatically. And Hoopla offers streaming and temporary downloads. There are two ways to access Hoopla. Content can be streamed through their website, hoopladigital.com, or through the Hoopla app so you can access your content on the go. The app also has the advantage of allowing you to download titles for offline watching, listening, and reading. We’ll go over the Hoopla app later, but first let’s take a look at the website.

Start by going to our website deerfieldlibrary.org, mousing over the media tab, and clicking “Hoopla,” then, “Go to Hoopla Digital.” Or start at hoopladigital.com. First, you’ll need to sign up for an account. Click “Get Started” in the center of the page. Enter an email address and a password to set up an account and click continue. Select the Deerfield Library and click next. Finally, enter your library card number, click next, and click “Sign Me Up.” When you first log into your account, you’ll see the different format categories. You can search in the search bar or click on one of the different format categories to browse the collection. You can further refine your search through their subcategories like recommended, featured, or popular. When you find a title you want to check out, you can click on it to find more information. Add it to your favorites, which saves it to a list so you can check it out later, or click “borrow” to check out the title. Once you click borrow, you’ll get a message telling you your due date. A note on borrowing and lending periods on Hoopla. With Hoopla you get up to 10 total checkouts per calendar month. Lending periods depend on the type of material. For movies and television you get 3 days---note that for TV shows each episode counts as a checkout. Music albums are 1-week, audiobooks and eBooks are 3-week checkouts. And remember, titles are automatically returned when they are due. Once you borrow a title, just click “play” to start streaming your content over the internet. Audiobooks and music will stream at the bottom of your browser. Click the arrow on the bottom left to pull it up to see your time or move backwards and forwards. It will keep streaming while you browse for more titles. Use the upper menu to see your list of favorites or browse a new category. As you browse, note the red number on top. That’s the amount of checkouts you have for the month.

Now we’ll look at the Hoopla App, available on iOS and Android devices, including Kindle Fire devices. For this demonstration we’re using an iPad but the app will work and look the same across devices. Search for Hoopla in your app store. You are looking for the icon shown on the right. Once you’ve downloaded and opened the app, you’ll be prompted to sign in or create an account. To start a new account, click “Sign Up.” Select the Deerfield Library, put in an email, create a password, and enter your library card number and click “Sign Up.” Use the menu bar at the bottom of the app to navigate to other format categories or to search. Or click on “My Hoopla” to find items you currently have checked out and your favorites list. When you borrow a title you can stream it by using your wireless internet connection by just clicking play. You can also download the material by clicking “Download to your device.” Once the item is downloaded, you’ll be able to play the file without being connected to WiFi. With music and audiobooks, the app will open up a player. You can minimize it but note that it’s still playing on the bottom of the screen. You can always close your player at the bottom.

Thanks for watching. Checkout some of our other informational videos, and if you have any questions feel free to give us a call