The Library is celebrating more than one million digital book checkouts for the second year in a row. This milestone illustrates the continued growth and importance of library digital lending of eBooks and eAudiobooks, especially after a prolonged period of building closures due to the global pandemic.
Contra Costa County Library has been providing readers 24/7 access to eBooks and eAudiobooks for several years through the award-winning Libby app, the library reading app created by OverDrive. Reader interest and usage has grown every year.
"This accomplishment demonstrates the important role libraries continue to play in our communities," said Alison McKee, County Librarian at Contra Costa County Library. "While the world continues to navigate the pandemic, our eBooks and eAudiobooks are an opportunity to safely connect to the Library. Many others who have not used a library in a long time have discovered the richness of our digital materials and have made a renewed connection with the library via our OverDrive collection."
The highest-circulating title readers borrowed in 2021 was The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. The top-circulating genre, romance, represents the most popular in a vast catalog that also includes mystery, biography & autobiography, children/young adult and more.
The top 5 eBook titles borrowed through Contra Costa County Library’s digital collection in 2021:
1. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
2. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
3. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
4. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
5. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
The top 5 eAudiobook titles borrowed through Contra Costa County Library’s digital collection in 2021:
1. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
2. Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
3. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
4. Becoming by Michelle Obama
5. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Visit ccc.overdrive.com/ or download the Libby app to get started and borrow eBooks and eAudiobooks anytime, anywhere.
