(6 Jan 2023) In 2022, digital book lending grew significantly due to innovations that high-performing public libraries, schools and other institutions used to serve their readers. These efforts resulted in record circulation of digital books, with ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and comic books each greatly contributing to year-over-year growth, according to industry leader OverDrive.
During the year, readers borrowed 555 million ebooks, audiobooks, digital magazines, comics and other digital content, a 10 percent increase over 2021. This record circulation led to another milestone: Readers have checked out a total of 3 billion digital books from public libraries, schools and academic libraries in the OverDrive network since the first ebook checkout in 2003. Data was reported by OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform for 88,000 libraries and schools in 109 countries worldwide, and creator of the award-winning Libby and Sora reading apps.
2022 digital book lending records from the OverDrive global network:
- Total digital checkouts from libraries and schools: 555 million (+10% over 2021)
- Libby app checkouts grew 30 percent, and millions more readers installed the app (+42%)
- Sora app checkouts grew 10 percent, and a record number of school systems (4) borrowed 1 million digital books through the Sora app
- Ebooks borrowed: 331 million (+4%)
- Audiobooks borrowed: 191 million (+17%)
- Magazines borrowed: 32 million (+38%)
- Comics and graphic novels: 33 million (+18%)
- Digital books borrowed by students from the classroom through Public Library CONNECT: 4.8 million (+3%)
- Ebook and audiobook holds/wait listed: 214 million (+13%)
- Public library systems achieving more than 1 million digital book checkouts: 129 public library systems in seven countries (+7%)
- Includes one system over 10 million digital book checkouts and 61 other systems over 2 million checkouts (full list available soon).
- Top titles in 2022 (see list of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines)
The press release in full is here.
