Authorize OverDrive purchase order of $275,000 for fiscal year 2025-26 for continued purchases of e-books and e-audiobooks through June 2026. (No general fund impact) (Lopez)

Authorize OverDrive purchase order of $275,000 for fiscal year 2025-26 for continued purchases of e-books and e-audiobooks through June 2026.

Yolo County is committed to providing access for all Yolo County residents to digital books and audiobooks. OverDrive is the leading distributor of e-books and e-audiobooks and provides services and digital content that enable public libraries to lend downloadable materials. Yolo County Library patrons have shown great interest in downloadable digital content and the circulation of such materials has been growing steadily over the past several years. Library closures during the pandemic caused even more interest in our online collection, and the popularity continues to grow. Yolo County Library's circulation of OverDrive materials from July 2024 - March 2025 has increased 17.6% over circulation from July 2023 - March 2024. We are requesting authorization of a purchase order in the amount of $275,000 for fiscal year 2025-26, to be spent from the amount budgeted annually for the Library's collection, which includes both physical and digital materials.

General Services Department, Procurement Division

On June 28, 2021, the then Yolo County Procurement Manager approved a single source procurement for a digital collection through OverDrive. The prices for individual e-books and e-audiobooks are set by the publishers, thus there is no difference in pricing from vendor to vendor. Sales models are also set by the publishers. The only cost variance from one vendor to the next is the yearly platform fee. OverDrive currently charges $5,000 annually for the platform fee.  Axis360, the only other major competitor, has quoted lower platform fees in the past, but moving digital content already owned by Yolo County Library to another platform would require the payment of transfer fees, staff training, patron education, website redesign, and new marketing materials. OverDrive offers the largest number of titles in the business (over 3 million, approximately 500,000 more titles than Axis360), including world languages, uses the award-winning Libby app, and offers instant digital card registration for new customers. Additionally, OverDrive has an exclusive agreement with Amazon allowing Kindle users to access library e-books on their devices. There are currently no other vendors that offer the same level of depth and breadth of selection, technological adaptability, and overall usability that OverDrive offers.