While many may prefer the feel of a physical book in their hands, local libraries are helping to bridge the digital divide during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s quite amazing actually,” said Jessica Woollard, communications officer for the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL). “The numbers are off the charts with borrowing and that’s people borrowing individually as well as new people who haven’t been into our digital collections before.”
In April, digital borrowing from GVPL was up 77 per cent from last year. The library system saw a 500 per cent increase in online card registrations, something that has been offered since 2017.
Since the Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL) launched online card registration on March 27, nearly 1,200 new customers have signed up for membership according to a VIRL spokesperson. The library system’s two most popular eBook and eAudiobook platforms – Overdrive and RB Digital – have seen a spike of 132 per cent in the average daily number of customers setting up accounts. Borrowing rates have risen 50 per cent for eBooks and 30 per cent for eAudiobooks at VIRL.
READ ALSO: Another one for the books: Greater Victoria libraries reflect on 2019
Woollard said GVPL staff have been looking at book trends and new books coming out to make sure there is new content available for people online. There’s one set of staff working to provide digital content and another set of staff available for technical support.
Both library systems offer online opportunities to read, watch, listen and learn. There are books, magazines, newspapers, television shows, movies, music and online classes for people to engage with. The popular genealogy site Ancestry.ca is also offered to GVPL users online, something that is normally only available in the branches.
At GVPL, Woollard said British mysteries as well as some bestsellers like Becoming by Michelle Obama and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens are popular. She said the Canadian novelist Emily St. John Mandel – who often features Vancouver Island in her novels – is also popular with books like the recently released The Glass Hotel and her 2014 book, Station Eleven.
Fantasy and graphic novel series’ continue to be popular amongst teens and British television and movies are popular as well. For music, people are listening to recent Grammy Award hits but are also throwing it back to the 1980s.
At VIRL, fiction is much more popular than non-fiction with thrillers coming out ahead as a favourite genre followed by romance and mystery. British television is also a favourite amongst VIRL users.
“It’s so wonderful libraries were positioned to help during this time … ready to jump in with this kind of support,” Woollard said. “Out of necessity, people are pushing their technological skills and we’re grateful to be able to play a role in bridging the digital divide.”
READ ALSO: ‘Our community loves a good mystery’ – GVPL lists favourites of 2017
Some of the most popular titles in each library system are as follows:
Most read eBooks at VIRL
The Alice Network
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Woman in the Window
The Good Daughter
The Kept Woman: Will Trent Series, Book Eight
Past Tense: A Jack Reacher Novel
Little Women
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Dark Sacred Night: Renee Ballard Series, Book Two
Most read eBooks at GVPL
Kingdom of the Blind
Becoming
Dark Sacred Night
Blue Moon
The Boy from the Woods
Where the Crawdads Sing
Walk the Wire
A Conspiracy of Bones
The Glass Hotel
Popular eAudiobooks at VIRL
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The Last Widow: Will Trent Series, Book Nine
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Beating About the Bush: Agatha Raisin Mystery Series, Book 30
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
Everything I Never Told You
Becoming
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away my Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More than Anything You can Buy in a Store
Popular eAudiobooks GVPL
Becoming
Untamed
Where the Crawdads Sing
Station Eleven
I Found You
Braiding Sweetgrass
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
The Making of Us
Popular Kids/Teen Books GVPL
The Book Thief
Big Nate and Friends
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Cabin Fever
Throne of Glass
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chain of Gold
Sisters
Guts
Karen’s Witch
Online Learning at VIRL
Top five languages: French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian and Mandarin
Ninety per cent of most popular classes focus on using and designing digital content
Two-hundred people have completed a bookkeeping basics class through the eLibrary this year
Movies at GVPL
Waiting for Anya
Hunky Dory
Agatha and the Truth of Murder
From Time to Time
Northanger Abbey
TV Series at GVPL
My Life is Murder
Keeping Faith
Good Karma Hospital
Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries
Collision
Music at GVPL
2020 Grammy Nominees CD
80s Mixtape CD
“Future Nostalgia” – Dua Lipa
“Lover” – Taylor Swift
The Greatest Showman soundtrack
