American Rescue Plan Act Funds & OverDrive: Frequently Asked Questions.

As of the time of writing (May 2021), based on our understanding, ARPA legislation requires that funds for materials and services be used between June 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022 (16 months). Metered Access (MA) digital books may be categorized as a “service” rather than “materials” under ARPA. Service purchases may not comply with ARPA requirements if the term extends beyond September 30, 2022.

We expect that reporting on the use of funds following the term will be a key component of the ARPA legislation.

• One Copy/One User
• Cost-Per-Circ (for checkouts through September 30, 2022)
• Simultaneous Use (as long as it expires on or before September 30, 2022)
• Metered Access by time (as long as it expires on or before September 30, 2022)*

*We are working with publisher partners to prorate the price and end date for Metered Access by time titles to align with requirements for ARPA funding.

Please note that, based on our understanding, Metered Access by checkout (one user or concurrent users) does not comply with ARPA because checkouts may not be exhausted on or before September 30, 2022.

Throughout OverDrive Marketplace, we offer tooling and guidance to help libraries create purchase orders and report on titles purchased with ARPA funding.

For One Copy/One User and Metered Access content, we offer the option to create carts specifically labeled for use with ARPA funds. Additionally, as publisher terms permit, we will automatically prorate the price and end date for Metered Access by time titles included in ARPA carts to align with requirements for ARPA funding.

Selectors can designate CPC titles for use with ARPA funding. When adding a CPC title to the collection for the first time, selectors can designate the title as ARPA-funded and set an end date for the title. Selectors can also select “Revoke” on any CPC title that’s already active in the collection and then designate the title as ARPA funded and add an end date.

When creating a new cart in OverDrive Marketplace, selectors have the option to identify the cart as ARPA funded.

As publisher terms permit, Marketplace will prorate the pricing and end dates for Metered Access by time titles in carts identified as ARPA funded. Before you purchase from the cart details view, a notification will inform you of any titles that will have adjusted pricing.

Selectors can designate CPC titles for use with ARPA funding. When adding a CPC title to the collection for the first time, selectors can designate the title as ARPA-funded and set an end date for the title. Selectors can also select “Revoke” on any CPC title that’s already active in the collection and then designate the title as ARPA funded and add an end date.

For easier tracking, we highly recommend libraries create additional billing accounts reserved for ARPA funds as needed, with “ARPA” included in the name of the billing account. If you’d like CPC titles designated for use with ARPA funds to be billed to the new ARPA-specific billing account, please contact our Accounting team through the Support tab in OverDrive Marketplace.

Libraries are strongly encouraged to create a new dedicated billing account for specific use with ARPA purchases.* To do this, partners can do either of the following:

1. Create a new Marketplace username to use for all ARPA purchases. When creating the new Marketplace username, select “I need to set up a new billing account” in the Billing account drop-down menu. To do this, navigate to Marketplace users > Add user.
2. Edit the billing account for an existing user to purchase ARPA orders with a new dedicated billing account. To do this, navigate to Marketplace users > Edit user.

For ease of tracking, we recommend including “ARPA” in the name of any new billing accounts reserved for ARPA funds.

If you’d like CPC titles designated for use with ARPA funds to be billed to the new ARPA-specific billing account, please contact our Accounting team through the Support tab in OverDrive Marketplace.

*If you are an Advantage library, please contact your Account Manager to set up a secondary billing account dedicated to ARPA purchases.

Yes. Advantage members can contact their Account Manager to set up a secondary billing account.

At the time of writing, ebooks from Penguin Random House and DK in the Metered Access 24-month lending model are available for proration. This option will also soon be available for ebook titles from Macmillan.

We are in ongoing dialogue with publishing partners with Metered Access models and will report updates as others enable this option.

For ebooks published by Penguin Random House and DK, the prorated price is based on the 24-month price. Selectors will need to add the 24-month model to ARPA carts to have the price and end date adjusted.

In any carts that partners designate for ARPA funding, the end date for Penguin Random House and DK titles will be adjusted to September 30, 2022.

The price will be prorated based on the month of purchase. This means a title purchased on June 1, 2021 will have the same price as a title purchased on June 30, 2021. If the library made a PRH ARPA purchase on April 1, 2022 for 6 months, the prorated price would be 25% of the 24-month digital library price.

In OverDrive Marketplace, selectors can add any titles to an ARPA-designated cart. However, OverDrive cannot guarantee the street date for preorders.

We will not have the ability to prorate the price/adjust the end date for preorder titles and they will appear in standard (non-ARPA) orders/invoices upon their street dates.

OverDrive Marketplace will not prevent selectors from purchasing content credit on an ARPA-designated billing account. However, we do not recommend purchasing content credit as there is not an end date attached to spending content credit.

We defer to the judgment of our library partners on what selections are eligible for ARPA funding. Before purchasing an ARPA cart, Marketplace will prompt selectors to review their cart contents before proceeding and link to this page as a resource.

If an ARPA cart includes titles the selector deems ineligible, Marketplace provides options to move or copy selected titles to a new cart.

Yes. From any cart, selectors can use the “Move title(s)” or “Copy title(s)” options to move/copy selected titles to a new cart. When creating the new cart, the selector can identify it as an ARPA cart.

Selectors can designate any CPC titles for use with ARPA funding. When adding a CPC title to the collection for the first time, selectors can designate the title as ARPA-funded and set an end date for the title. For any CPC title that is already in the collection, selectors can select “Revoke” and then designate the title as ARPA funded and add an end date.

Scheduled end dates will display in title details and the Title status & usage report.

If you’d like CPC titles designated for use with ARPA funds to be billed to the new ARPA-specific billing account, please contact our Accounting team through the Support tab in OverDrive Marketplace.

The Purchase Orders report has a new value in the “Order type” column for ARPA orders. Partners can run the report to see all ARPA purchase orders.

CPC titles using ARPA funding will be invoiced separately from the rest of the library’s CPC collection.

To see usage for OC/OU & MA content flagged for purchase with ARPA funds, partners can run the Checkouts report by Purchase Order ID.

To see usage for any CPC titles, partners can run the Checkouts report by lending model.

Please note that since we do not currently support copy-level reporting, it won’t be possible to run a report to see activity for copies purchased specifically with ARPA funding.

Yes. Separate invoices will be generated for ARPA purchase orders and CPC titles designated for ARPA funding.

Invoices for ARPA orders will not be aggregated. Every OC/OU & MA ARPA purchase order will have an individual invoice, issued at the time of purchase.

Invoices for CPC ARPA orders will be issued monthly as a separate invoice from other CPC content. If you’d like CPC titles designated for use with ARPA funds to be billed to an ARPA-specific billing account, please contact our Accounting team through the Support tab in OverDrive Marketplace.

For easier tracking, we recommend that libraries create a new billing account for all ARPA orders.

From the View invoices section of the Billing tab in Marketplace, partners can view all invoices associated with their billing account. To see all ARPA-designated orders, select Search invoices and select the Billing account your library created for use with ARPA funds.

Yes, any US public library will have the option to designate carts for ARPA funding.

Yes.

Yes.

We invite you to review our on-demand webinar or watch a how-to video to learn more.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allocates nearly $40 billion in additional aid to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, which is available through September 30, 2023. Details about the American Rescue Plan from the U.S. Department of Education can be found here. For specific questions about ARPA as it relates to purchasing content for your college or university library in OverDrive Marketplace, please contact professional@overdrive.com.

Government relief for K-12 schools offers schools a once-in-a-generation chance to eliminate barriers to reading and overcome unequal access to books. The Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) was established to help schools meet the challenges of today’s pandemic and create tomorrow’s bright future.

Also known as CARES, CRRSA, ARP, and ESSER I and ESSSER II, the relief funds are being distributed now to schools across the United States. Use Sora, which qualifies as an allowable use under all statutes, to ensure that each student can access the content they need and want, with just a tap. Learn more about Sora and ESF!