Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
A person walks past a closed Manchester central library during lockdown.
A person walks past a closed Manchester central library during lockdown. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images
A person walks past a closed Manchester central library during lockdown. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images

Library ebook lending surges as UK turns to fiction during lockdown

This article is more than 3 years old

Charity says ebooks borrowing up 146% from March to August, with crime thrillers popular

They may have been closed for months during lockdown, but amid long days and many on furlough it has emerged that the nation turned to local libraries for cultural sustenance – with a surge in the lending of ebooks, and crime thrillers in particular.

In total, more than 3.5m additional ebooks were borrowed between the end of March and mid-August, according to the charity Libraries Connected, an increase of 146%. Adding audiobooks and e-comics, there was an increase of 5m digital items borrowed.

Gillian Galbraith’s Blood in the Water, the first of the Alice Rice mysteries featuring the Edinburgh detective, and published in 2007, was the most requested adult ebook. The former first lady Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, was also among the most popular lends. The comedian and TV show judge David Walliams claimed three of the top 10 slots in most-borrowed children and young people’s ebooks.

The author Gillian Galbraith, pictured in 2008. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Library online membership in the UK increased more than six-fold during lockdown, with demand for ebooks and audiobooks one of the main drivers.

“Library membership has surged,” said Nick Poole, the chief executive of the UK library and information association CILIP. “The increase in registration for online membership cards was huge, between 600 and 700%, which is amazing.”

With library buildings closed for up to four months, and people at home, services had to move swiftly online. A survey by Libraries Connected found audiobook checkouts increased, overall, by 113%, magazines by 80%, newspaper by 223% and comics by 497%.

There was growth in digital offerings across many areas including rhyming and reading sessions for young children, instruction sessions to access online services, author-led events, school readiness programmes, and jobs and arts clubs.

More than 75% of libraries delivered online services during lockdown. Some reached more than 20,000 views, according to Libraries Connected. One toddler reading event, which was staged on Facebook, had a 400% increase in views.

While the borrowing of physical books still massively outnumbers that of ebooks, a report by the charity suggests digital borrowing is not just an early lockdown “fad”. After experiencing an initial surge, the higher level of demand has been sustained.

Licensing around ebooks means they are more expensive and fewer were initially available, in particular for young people and children because there had been little demand previously.

Libraries Connected said its analysis suggested the increased cost of providing this unprecedented access to online lending could exceed the current £4m annual spending on such resources.

Heads of library services are concerned this additional investment may not be sustainable, particularly as budgets come under pressure. As the licensing model for digital services continues to operate restrictively for public libraries, public expectation of availability may outstrip supply, the charity said.

“One of the brilliant things that happened was publishers really stepped up,” said Poole. “Ebooks cost a lot of money. Publishers, during the lockdown, said they would either waive or reduce licence fees so they really helped us out in terms of making ebooks available.”

Isobel Hunter, the chief executive of Libraries Connected, said: “Libraries have a proven track record of rapidly adapting to ensure that local communities receive the support they need. While local restrictions remain in place, the need for our digital services will only increase. That’s why we’re working with publishers to urgently improve the availability of audio and ebooks to libraries to meet this growing demand.”

Looking to the future, Poole said the challenge was how to sustain new-found interest in ebooks along with the physical stock.

“People might think we don’t need the physical places any more, which obviously we really, really do because the library is doing so much more to support the community than just reading,” he said, adding: “Yes, absolutely we have found this new digital audience [but] we also need to continue supporting [the] face-to-face audience.”

Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming. Photograph: AP

Top 10 most loaned adult ebooks

1 Blood in the Water (Gillian Galbraith)
2 Vengeance (Lee Child)
3 First Thrills(Lee Child)
4 A Small Weeping (Alex Gray)
5 Becoming (Michelle Obama)
6 The Mirror and the Light (Hilary Mantel)
7 The French House (Nick Alexander)
8 Normal People (Sally Rooney)
9 The Guest List (Lucy Foley)
10 Troubled Water (Gillian Galbraith)

Top 10 most loaned children and young people’s ebooks

1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (JK Rowling)
2 Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid (Jeff Kinney)
3 The Boy in the Dress (David Walliams)
4 My Babysitter is a Robot (Dave Cousins)
5 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (JK Rowling)
6 The Beast of Buckingham Palace (David Walliams)
7 Slime (David Walliams)
8 Armadillo and Hare and the Very Noisy Bear (Jeremy Strong)
9 Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
10 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (JK Rowling)

Lists based on data from Libraries Connected

Most viewed

Most viewed