Everybody has coped with the pandemic differently, but many people are turning to books to escape lockdown boredom and stress. With library buildings closed to the public because of the coronavirus, 2020 was Libby's year to shine. That's the name of an app used by Austin Public Library that lets patrons check out e-books and digital audiobooks on their mobile devices.
Electronic resources librarian Amy Mullin said that Libby and the library’s other digital lending platforms have increased in popularity over the last several years, a trend that's accelerated during the pandemic. On Libby, readers checked out almost 1 million books from the Austin library in 2020, compared to about 600,000 in 2019 and 280,000 in 2018.