Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 3

OVERDRIVE REPORTS 2016 DIGITAL LIBRARY TRENDS FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES Circulation Growth for Children’s and Young Adult eBooks Outperform Adult Genres When the nation’s public librarians met at the 2016 Public Library Association (PLA) Conference this week, industry-leading eBook and audiobook provider OverDrive presented the 2016 Digital Library Trends. Public libraries’ digital catalogs are on pace for another record-breaking year for lending digital titles. Based on the activities of 50 top circulating public libraries for the first Quarter (Jan. 1, 2016 – March 31, 2016), eBook, audiobook and digital magazine checkouts through OverDrive are on track to grow 30-40 percent for 2016 over the record levels achieved for 2015. Trends and best practices that emerged from aggregated eBook and audiobook borrowing patterns of millions of readers’ hundreds of millions of sessions include: 1. With a 30 percent increase in children’s digital books borrowed (2016 Q1 vs. 2015 Q1), younger readers are increasingly embracing public library children’s and YA eBook collections. This is due to:  Significant growth of catalogs of enhanced eBooks featuring rich graphics, synchronized narrated audio with highlighted text (ReadAlongs), and the addition of thousands of comics and graphic novels. OverDrive offers the largest collection of EPUB3 and HTML5 eBooks for library lending; and,  Librarian-curated Kid’s & Teen’s eReading Rooms that create a safe, ageappropriate online reading destination for parents, teachers, and young readers to bookmark and visit often. 2. Access to multiple eBook and audiobook lending models are enabling libraries to leverage content to maximize the number of readers served. MAY - JUNE 2016  Traditional Book Clubs have become extremely popular in the United States and now digital Book Clubs are starting to grow. Libraries are increasingly using their OverDrive platform to host and promote “eBook Reading Clubs” enabling dozens of “city read” or “one-book, one community” programs. For example, this month the entire city of London is reading Ten Days as part of CityRead London.  Growing catalogs of simultaneous access titles for audiobooks, education, PAGE 16 WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 3 | Page 24