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Schools are also relying heavily on e-books during remote and hybrid education. Digital reading platform OverDrive reports an 80% increase worldwide in school e-book and audiobook usage.
The Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library saw dramatic increases in e-book and e-audiobook usage over the past eight years, but Holbrook Sample, chief technology and logistics officer, says usage spiked during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Year-over-year in November, for e-books themselves, we were up 23% and digital audiobooks were (a) 10-12% increase year-over-year," says Sample. "We've definitely seen a nice rise in usage of our digital collection."
The Kenton County Public Library is seeing a similar boom.