As ALA Midwinter kicks off in San Diego, e-book, audiobook, music, and video digital distributor OverDrive, which provides digital distribution services for more than 13,000 libraries, retailers, and schools, has released some statistics about library and school use. More than one million new users accessed free e-books, audiobooks, and other content from Virtual Branch Web sites (which OverDrive supports) last year, resulting in a 200% increase in e-book checkouts and a 52% increase in audiobook checkouts over 2009.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson was the most downloaded adult fiction e-book and audiobook of the year, followed by The Help, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, and The Lost Symbol. On the adult nonfiction side, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert topped the e-book charts, trailed by Sh*t My Dad Says, Outliers, SuperFreakonomics, and Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. The most downloaded adult fiction audiobook at libraries was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and the most downloaded nonfiction audiobook was Eat, Pray, Love.
OverDrive’s Digital Bookmobile, an 18-wheel truck traveling throughout North America to raise awareness about free library downloads, visited nearly 100 libraries and schools in 2010.
