Rakuten Overdrive released its end of year report yesterday. The company now supports over 43,000 libraries and schools worldwide, including 65 public library systems that each loaned over 1 million digital books to readers in 2018.
Libraries working with Overdrive loaned over 274 million ebooks and audiobooks to card holders in the past year, a 22% increase over the previous year, which is the highest growth rate since 2015.
Highlights from the report include:
- Total digital checkouts from libraries & schools: 274 million (+22% over 2017, the highest growth rate since 2015)
- eBooks borrowed: 185 million (+19%)
- Audiobooks borrowed: 88 million (+29%, outpacing ebooks for the 5th straight year)
- Ebook and audiobook holds/wait listed: 107 million (+28%)
- Children/YA checkouts/holds: 39 million (+27%)
- 65 public library systems around the world (+12%) with over 1 million digital book checkouts, including 11 over 2 million checkouts, four over 3 million, five over 4 million and two over five million
- New public library (digital) users: 4 million (+15%)
Most popular ebooks borrowed from libraries in 2018:
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press)
- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Press)
- The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (William Morrow)
- Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Ballantine Books)
- Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Anchor)
Most popular audiobooks borrowed from libraries in 2018
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (Pottermore)
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press)
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (HarperAudio)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Random House Audio)
- A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’engle (Listening Library)
Top digital books borrowed from libraries by genre:
- Adult nonfiction: Educated by Tara Westover (Random House)
- Adult fiction: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press)
- Young adult fiction: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Balzer + Bray)
You don’t even need to take books back to the library. A great resource.