More e-books and e-audio books were borrowed in March from North Yorkshire County Council’s library service than ever before.
During the month, 5,190 e-books were checked out, compared to the previous high of 4,808 in January, and 990 e-audio books were issued, compared to a previous high of 430, also in January.
Across both formats, there was an average of 213 issues each day, compared with 175 in March 2015. Between April 2015 and March 2016, there were 1,699 new borrowers of e-books. Throughout the year, 52,284 e-books and 12,993 e-audio books were issued. The library service has almost 9,800 e-book titles and almost 3,500 e-audio books from which borrowers can choose.
The county’s most popular e-books author is thriller writer Lee Child, whose e-books have been borrowed 4,572 times since the service was launched in autumn 2010.
The most popular e-book has been family drama The Pact by Jodi Picoult, with 171 loans, followed by romantic suspense title Brazen Virtue by Nora Roberts, with 149 checkouts.
When it comes to digital audiobooks, the Harry Potter titles lead the field. The library service has three audio copies of each of the seven titles in the series and between them they have been borrowed 1,557 times – an average of 74 times per copy
County Councillor Chris Metcalfe, Executive Member for Library and Information Services, said: “We are investing in e-books and other electronic resources, which are increasingly popular with library users. E-books and e-audio books offer readers great flexibility. People can browse the full catalogue online, borrow books at any time of the day and night and download them to their devices. You just need to be a member of the library, and it’s free and easy to join online.
“E-books are just a part of North Yorkshire’s online library service, which also includes a wide range of references sources and news and magazine services.”
More information about services available from North Yorkshire libraries, including e-books and the lending catalogue, can be found at www.northyorks.gov.uk/libraries.