There has been a dramatic influx of of people borrowing audiobooks and ebooks from the public library. OverDrive announced that 58 library systems set a new record for lending 1 million eBooks and digital audiobooks in 2017, this is an increase from the 49 libraries reached 1 million checkouts in 2016.
Overdrive is the largest company operating in the digital library space the vast majority of branches do business with them. Over the course of 2017 there were 155 million ebook loans, which was an increase of 11% from 2016 and there was 68 million audiobook loans. OverDrive’s catalog for libraries reached record levels, topping 4 million titles in more than 100 languages. In addition, libraries continue to engage more readers with curated lists and personalized recommendations.
See the complete list. The “Million Checkout Club” includes two library systems that exceeded 4 million digital checkouts, seven above 3 million, and five with 2 million or more. The top 10 digital-circulating library systems for 2017:
- Toronto Public Library (+19% growth over 2016)
- King County Library System, Washington (+13%)
- Los Angeles Public Library (+23%)
- New York Public Library (+20%)
- Seattle Public Library (+12%)
- Hennepin County Library, Minnesota (+15%)
- Cleveland Public Library (+11%)
- Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (+12%)
- Multnomah County Library, Oregon (+28%)
- Cuyahoga County Public Library, Ohio (+10%)
The top 5 digital-circulating consortia and shared collections for 2017:
- Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (+7%)
- The Ohio Digital Library (+10%)
- Greater Phoenix Digital Library (+7%)
- Tennessee READS (+10%)
- Digital Downloads Collaboration, Ohio (+9%)
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.
