Northern Kentucky residents who borrow from the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library system will have to start paying $90 a year for a library card in January, after the system ended a longstanding reciprocity program with three Kentucky county libraries. The change applies across all 41 CHPL branches, including the Hyde Park and Oakley locations that serve this neighborhood.

CHPL notified affected cardholders by email on Aug. 18, WVXU reported. The free cards for residents of Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties expire Jan. 3, 2027. After that date, those borrowers will need to purchase a non-resident card at the same $90 rate other out-of-county patrons already pay.

The number directly affected is small: only eight people in those three Kentucky counties hold a free card today. More than 1,200 Northern Kentucky residents already pay the $90 fee.

Why now

Brand and Communications Director Angela Hursh pointed to Ohio's 2025 state budget, which cut $25 million from the Ohio Public Library Fund and shifted the money to other state agencies. CHPL lost roughly $1 million. The system received $49 million from the state fund in 2025, according to its annual report cited by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"We have to repurchase titles after a certain number of check-outs," Hursh told the Enquirer. "So an e-book or e-audiobook ends up costing more than the print version of it does. And, of course, demand has risen."

Audiobooks are now CHPL's most-used digital format and recently surpassed print circulation, Hursh said. Unlike a physical book a library buys once, publishers require libraries to repurchase digital titles after a set number of checkouts. Boone County Public Library Executive Director Carrie Herrmann noted that while consumers pay around $13 to purchase an e-book permanently, major publishers charge public libraries $55 or more for a temporary license.

Local context

The funding pressure is not new to Hyde Park. At the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council's meeting in April 2025, Hyde Park Branch Manager Ben Lathrop warned that a proposed state budget threatened a $14 million loss to Hamilton County libraries. "We have one of the best library systems in the country, but that could change," Lathrop said at the time. "This is an existential crisis."

The final budget enacted a smaller but still significant cut. The Hyde Park Branch, one of nine original Carnegie-funded libraries in Hamilton County, serves a neighborhood population of about 19,588 and sits 1.4 miles from the Oakley Branch.

Hursh said the library does not anticipate reductions in services or staff at this time.

What it means across the river

The end of reciprocity cuts both ways. Hamilton County residents who hold free cards at Northern Kentucky libraries may lose that access too. Herrmann said her board is expected to discuss ending reciprocity at its September 2026 meeting.

"As a tax-supported institution in Boone County, we cannot offer free card privileges to non-county residents that our own residents are not receiving in return," Herrmann said in a statement reported by WVXU.

The Campbell County Public Library said its Board of Trustees is discussing the matter. The Kenton County Public Library has not yet made a decision.

The $90 annual fee is pegged to what the owner of a $150,000 home in Hamilton County pays in library property taxes. Hamilton County residents with a valid address continue to receive their CHPL card at no charge.

What's next

The Boone County Public Library board is expected to formally discuss ending its own reciprocity agreement in September 2026. No date has been announced for that meeting.