question about hotspot theft

[Garboczi, Beth]

Hi all,

I am doing some research about Hotspots. We experience a lot of theft with ours, and I'm wondering what everyone is experiencing in your libraries. If you are experiencing a lot of theft, how are you dealing with that problem? Do you have policies around Hotspots as to who can check them out?

Thanks!

Beth Garboczi (she/her)

Library Circulation Supervisor

Library & Cultural Services Department | City of Aurora

Office Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:15 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Phone: 303.739.6629

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[Sharon Rice]

Hi there, this is Sharon from Pueblo!

We check out two types of hotspots at the moment- an unfiltered hotspot that adults only can check out and a CIPA compliant filtered hotspot that minors and adults can check out.  The only restrictions we have on checkout at the moment is only one per account, one on hold at a time, and soon non-resident cards will not be able to check out devices.  These check out for 28 days and are non-renewable.  

We have a couple of different ways to handle theft, and/or reported "loss" of devices.  First off, nothing is going to stop someone from stealing something, if they really want to.  Thankfully we are able to remotely turn off service to those devices once they're gone which is very helpful in getting them back.  Secondly, if someone reports them "stolen"  (this may or may not be the case- often is not the case) I require a full police report.  However, this isn't the only thing I will do.  Depending on the circumstances, I will also let the patron know that due to the circumstances of the theft, they might have a year-long moratorium on being able to check out the devices.  I will also do this in circumstances where a device is damaged beyond repair.  Obviously if I think the loss is valid or the damage is accidental and not bound to happen again, I will not do this and it's a case by case situation.  In larger districts it might look like empowering branch supervisors or managers to be able to do something similar.  Often not having access to the desired material goes farther than a monetary fine the patron has no intention of paying anyway.  

Our original hotspots were grant funded so we were not charging replacement fees, and that's how the checkout moratoriums came about.  I have kept them in place because they're darned effective.  It works for us down here, anyway!

Sharon

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Sharon Rice

Manager of Experiential Learning

Pueblo City-County Library District

she/her/hers

[Cindy Martin]

Hi Beth,

Out of the 65 hotspots we have here at Arapahoe Libraries, 3 of them are in missing status and over half of them are in billing status (meaning they are 40+ days overdue.

These remain popular as there's still a waiting list for  them.  Any patron in good standing may place holds on them and check them out.

CINDY MARTIN

Coordinator of Lending Services

CLCN Chair

A R A P A H O E L I B R A R I E S

Pronouns: She, her, hers 

303-542-7279 x12715

cma...@arapahoelibraries.org

 

 

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From: 'Sharon Rice' via CLCN Colorado Circulation Supervisors Network <cl...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2025 1:37 PM
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Subject: Re: question about hotspot theft

 

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[Tim McClelland]

Hi Beth-

 

Boulder Public Library also struggles with this. 9 of our 22 hotspots are currently in Billed status. We deactivate the hotspots once they are billed, which often gets folks to bring them back, but creates more work and downtime as staff have a backend process to reactivate the device.

 

We allow any patron to check them out currently. It’s a hard balance between access and getting the devices back on time.

 

Best,

 

Tim McClelland

Public Services Department Manager

 

Pronouns: he/him

O: 983-888-0554

mccle...@boulderlibrary.org

 

Boulder Public Library District

1001 Arapahoe Ave | Boulder, CO 80302

www.boulderlibrary.org

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[Brandon Cox]

Hi Beth,

 

Lafayette PL has had about 40 T-Mobile hotspots in circulation for a couple of years now. We audit this collection annually and have seen a loss rate of approx. 20% which is obviously higher that we’d like, but looks good compared to the rates that others shared with us when we inquired about hotspot management with the library community prior to building our collection—I think that was around 40%. Our agreement with T-Mobile also entitles us to a small number of free replacement devices every year, which helps offset the damage.

 

Some of the things I think help our retention, such as it is:

 

• Loan rules – local adult patrons only, 7-day checkout, no renewals, holdable by local adult patrons
• Device management – we use PinTrac daily to disable devices when they become overdue
• Screen of disabled devices now displays ‘access denied’ message. We used to put up a longer and kinder message to the effect of ‘overdue, please return’ but have actually seen more long-overdue returns since switching to the simpler ‘access denied’ instead.
• Echoing Tim, the device management piece is a huge time investment for us. We have a small team of staff who alternate this as a daily process, estimated 30-60 min/day disabling overdue devices and enabling returned.

 

Brandon Cox (He/Him/El)

Technical Services Manager

City of Lafayette | Library

303-661-1187

 

           lafayetteco.gov

               

 

From: 'Tim McClelland' via CLCN Colorado Circulation Supervisors Network <cl...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2025 3:49 PM
To: cl...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: question about hotspot theft

 

Hi Beth-   Boulder Public Library also struggles with this. 9 of our 22 hotspots are currently in Billed status. We deactivate the hotspots once they are billed, which often gets folks to bring them back, but creates more work and downtime as staff

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[Meg Albee]

Hi Beth!

We too got most of our original hotspot stock from a grant and have lost nearly all (80%) of the original devices. With our current collection (including replacements we've purchased), about 68% are actively circulating - the rest are lost/missing/damaged status. 

Similar to other library systems, we deactivate service to the devices when they are 14 days overdue and then bill for the replacement cost after that if the device isn't returned. If a customer reports a device stolen or damaged due to accidents, we will accept a recently dated police report / insurance report / other official documentation to waive the replacement charges. Hotspots only check out to Denver County residents (of any age - they just need a "full use" Denver Card/Patron Code) for 21 days. Only one hotspot per account. They generally don't renew as there is always a waitlist. We have a 2-strike policy - if you lose or damage one device and resolve the charges, you get one more chance. If you lose or damage a second device, you are blocked from device checkout for 5 years (per our City statute of limitations). 

Prompt service deactivation does seem to help with getting items returned. We recently got access to a better management portal (PINTRAC) which we're hoping will streamline the process and also help us detect tampering quicker (savvy customers can remove the SIM cards from the devices and put them in other things). 

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