Library patrons who borrow eBooks from the library say they read an average of 29 books in the past year, as compared to readers who don’t borrow eBooks from the library who read an average of 23 books. This is according to a new report from Pew Internet Research.
Here is more from Pew: “Focusing on those who do borrow e-books from libraries, two-thirds say the selection is good at their library: 32% of e-book borrowers say the selection at their library is ‘good,’ 18% say it is ‘very good,’ and 16% say it is ‘excellent.’ Some 23% say the selection is only ‘fair,’ 4% say it is ‘poor,’ and 8% say they don’t know.”
But while some patrons are actively checking out eBooks, only 12 percent of Americans are actually aware that libraries have eBooks available for check out. AppNewser has more: “The report found that 62 percent of Americans are unaware that eBooks are available at the library. In addition, 22 percent said that they know that eBooks are available at their local library, while 14 percent said they know that their library does not lend out eBooks.”
The report also found that 46 percent of Americans who don’t currently borrow eBooks from libraries are likely to borrow an eReader loaded with a book they wanted to read from the library.