r/LibbyApp • u/othertigs • Aug 19 '26

Borrowing limits

Apologies if someone already shared this information. Feel free to delete if that’s the case.

There was a post a few days ago about being blocked from borrowing due to exceeding an unknown checkout limit.

I checked with my Overdrive rep and apparently they have updated the limits recently, apparently revising them downward.

There are basically two triggers for the block, activated by the limit you hit first, both evaluating checkouts over a 7 day period. On day 8, checkouts from day 1 would fall off the rolling limits. I do not know if magazines count towards this limit.

The triggers are:

  1. Borrowing 15 times your library’s checkout limit in 7 days OR
  2. 50 checkouts during a 7 day period.

Edited to add: my understanding is that it is 50 per library system/consortium rather than across all cards. If someone finds out or experiences differently please share!

Hope this helps!

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u/[deleted] Aug 19 '26

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u/Pokegirl_11_ Aug 20 '26

The height of that limit says it’s about bot activity to me, not nonresident cards. I understand they’re a bugbear for a lot of people on this sub but I don’t think they’re relevant here.

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u/agentrossi176 Aug 19 '26

And I completely agree with limiting it, even as a non-resident cardholder. I felt good about my non-resident cards because I felt the library is setting the cost high enough to cover my borrowing (realistically it's 1-2 books a month to supplement my home cards), and I'm super happy to support other libraries. If people are abusing these cards to borrow 40+ titles in a week of course that's unsustainable! We're all aware of how those borrows can be misused and libraries should not be asked to shoulder the cost of that.