Hoopla and AI Generated Crap ️

My local library offers e-books both through Libby and Hoopla. With Libby you can borrow up to 10 books at a time, while Hoopla offers 10 books per month. I always try to get my 10 books from Hoopla before the end of the month, as they tend to have a wider selection – especially non-fiction and self-published works – and the download function that works more reliably in remote country without cell service.

I’ve had increasing problems with Hoopla having self-published books at that are AI generated crap. This is particularly true with self-published works. Sometimes self-published works are more technical in nature or are written by legitimate farmers and homesteaders, but there is a deluge of AI content that looks legitimate until you start reading, at least a few pages – and realize it’s just babble scraped off the internet and other sources.

I think I found a solution. I take the book title, and not only inspect the publisher, but also copy and paste the book title and author into Amazon and read the reviews. Then I know before I click borrow, I am getting a legitimate read, having the library reimburse an author for legitimate content rather then AI generated crap that it not readable or useful.