Submitted by the Ohio Digital Library.
The Ohio Digital Library announced today that it reached a record-breaking six million digital book checkouts in 2020.
For The Ohio Digital Library, this accomplishment illustrates the continued growth and importance of library digital lending of ebooks and audiobooks, especially in a year with building closures due to the global pandemic. The Ohio Digital Library, consisting of over 179 libraries around the state, is one of 102 public library systems worldwide that surpassed one million checkouts (complete list here).
The Ohio Digital Library member libraries have been providing readers 24/7 access to ebooks and audiobooks for several years through OverDrive and its award-winning Libby reading app. Reader interest and usage has grown every year. Member libraries with high digital book checkouts include Stark Library, Midpointe Library System, Delaware County District Library, Westerville Public Library and Clermont County Public Library.
“In this challenging year, library patrons embraced reading ebooks and audiobooks in a new way,” said Anne Kennedy, Library Consultant at The Ohio Digital Library. “While physical buildings are closed, the digital doors are always open and it has allowed many new patrons to discover the joy of reading in new ways.”
The highest-circulating title The Ohio Digital Library readers borrowed through OverDrive in 2020 was Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. The top-circulating genre, romance, represents the most popular in a vast catalog that also includes thrillers, biographies and children/young adult.
The top 5 ebook titles borrowed through The Ohio Digital Library’s digital collection in 2020:
1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
3. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
4. The Last Flight by Julie Clark
5. The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
The top 5 audiobook titles borrowed through The Ohio Digital Library’s digital collection in 2020:
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
3. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
4. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
5. Becoming by Michelle Obama
Readers in Ohio just need a valid library card from a member library to access digital books from The Ohio Digital Library’s OverDrive-powered digital collection. Readers can use any major device, including Apple(R), Android™, Chromebook™ and Kindle(R) (US only). Visit https://ohdbks.overdrive.com/ or download the Libby app to get started and borrow ebooks and audiobooks anytime, anywhere.
About The Ohio Digital Library
The Ohio Digital Library serves member libraries and readers from across the state of Ohio. Started in 2005 as the Ohio eBook Project, it is a program of the State Library of Ohio and is supported in part by federal Institute of Museum and Library Services funds, awarded to the State Library of Ohio.
About OverDrive
OverDrive strives to create “a world enlightened by reading.” Serving a growing network of 65,000 libraries and schools in 84 countries, OverDrive delivers the industry’s largest digital catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and other content through award-winning apps. The Libby reading app for libraries is one of Popular Mechanics’ 20 Best Apps of the Decade, while the student reading app Sora is one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. Founded in 1986, OverDrive is based in Cleveland, Ohio USA and was named a Certified B Corp in 2017. www.overdrive.com