Overdrive is the largest digital distributor for public libraries. The company serves 76,000 libraries and schools in 94 countries. In 2021, 506 million ebooks, audiobooks and digital magazines were loaned out, which was a 16% increase over 2020. 121 public library systems in seven countries achieved one million or more digital book loans, while four school systems in two countries reached this milestone. Libby added new users at a record pace in 2021 and now accounts for 60% of how readers enjoyed reading digital content.
One of the emerging sectors for Overdrive has been education. They have been focusing on their Sora e-reading app for this sector. School circulation of digital books with the Sora student reading app grew by 65%. Public library digital collections enabled 4.7 million books to be borrowed by students for self-selected reading on the Sora app, an increase of 117%.
Most popular ebooks borrowed from libraries in 2021:
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Publishing Group, St. Martin’s Press)
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Penguin Publishing Group, Viking)
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (Penguin Publishing Group, Riverhead Books)
- The Guest List by Lucy Foley (HarperCollins, William Morrow Paperbacks)
- Nomadland by Jessica Bruder (W. W. Norton & Company)
Most popular audiobooks borrowed from libraries in 2021:
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama (Penguin Random House Audio)
- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Penguin Random House Audio)
- Cold Mourning by Brenda Chapman (Dundurn)
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (Macmillan Audio)
- Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (Penguin Random House Audio)
Most popular magazines borrowed from libraries in 2021:
- Us Weekly (A360 Media, LLC)
- The Economist (The Economist Newspaper Limited)
- The New Yorker (Conde Nast US)
- HELLO! (Hello! Limited)
- HGTV Magazine (Hearst)
Top digital books borrowed from libraries by genre:
- Adult fiction: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Publishing Group, St. Martin’s Press)
- Adult nonfiction: A Promised Land by Barack Obama (Penguin Random House Audio)
- Young adult fiction: Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards (Sourcebooks)
- Children’s fiction: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (Potterm
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.