Here is an article that caught my eye today. It confirms my earlier suspicions about the book world and the library world are both converting from printed-on-paper books to digital books. From an article by Andrew Albanese printed in the publishersweekly.com web site:
OverDrive reps reported this week that a record 152 library systems and consortia across seven countries—including 41 states and seven Canadian provinces—surpassed the one million digital lends benchmark in 2023, which includes e-books, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines. The numbers represent a significant jump from the 129 library systems that hit the milestone in 2022.
The 152 public libraries hitting the milestone are based in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Public Library topped the global list, with more than 12 million digital titles circulated; MELSA: Twin Cities Metro eLibrary in Minnesota remains the highest circulating consortium. Houston Public Library in Texas experienced the highest year-over-year circulation growth, up 57%,, while Öffntlicher Bibliotheken in Berlin, Germany, held the strongest growth for a library outside North America—up 46%—for the third consecutive year. In addition, OverDrive said that 23 library systems hit the million lend mark for the first time in 2023.
The news comes a week after OverDrive reported that 2023 was another record-breaking year for digital library circulation, with a 19% increase in library checkouts of digital media over 2022. In all, library users worldwide borrowed some 662 million e-books, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines.
The entire article is much longer and can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/2pvudpkc.