(19 Mar 2021) Visits to public libraries in Taiwan dropped over 30 percent in 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak, but the number of e-books borrowed surged more than 40 percent for the second year, according to an annual report published on Friday.
A total of 79.69 million visits to public libraries were recorded last year, a drop of 35.12 million, or 30.59 percent from 2019, said Tseng Shu-hsien (曾淑賢), director general of the National Central Library, which released the annual report during a press conference in Taipei.
Citing the impact of COVID-19, the number of book loans, which can be for one or more books, also fell 3.27 percent to 22.20 million, she added.
However, the number of e-books borrowed continued the growth seen in recent years, surging 42.35 percent from the previous year to 3.63 million in 2020, the report showed.
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