Significantly more people are borrowing electronic materials from B.C. Public Libraries. Here's why

Demand for electronic materials has drastically increased in B.C. libraries since the onset of COVID-19. 

While analyzing data from B.C. Public Libraries Statistics (2002-Present), I came across the rising trend in the borrowing of electronic materials and wondered if the increase was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At first, the scope of libraries I was trying to look at seemed a little too ambitious, so I narrowed it down to the top five municipal libraries (based on estimated service population) in British Columbia. After deciding which libraries to focus on, I condensed the data so it only focused on what I wanted to include in my final visualization. 

When analyzing the raw data, the first step was to compare the difference in electronic materials borrowed in 2019 and 2020, figure out the percentage increases/decreases, and calculate the average, according to the Annual Survey Questions from B.C. Public Libraries Statistics (2002-Present), electronic materials include eBooks and eAudioBooks, Databases (FullText), eLearning Platforms, Streaming Services and Other Electronic Resources. 

Once finished, I learned that the average increase in borrowing electronic materials from 2019 to 2020 was 21 per cent. This jump felt so significant between the two years that I could only hypothesize that it was due to COVID-19.

According to an article written for CBC in June 2020, Maryse Zeidler says, "Libraries across the country [had] closed most of their services to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. But many [were] still offering electronic materials to patrons hungry for reading material."

Wanting to learn more about the five libraries I chose to focus on specifically, I reached out to the Chief Librarian of each library to ask them their thoughts about the increase. Only two responded. 

For Greater Victoria Public Library, I was directed to Kelly Ridgeway, Media Inquiries, Ridgeway told me that they had a 52 per cent increase in digital circulation in 2020, but because physical branches were closed for several weeks, "there was a 92 per cent increase in the use of digital resources between April and June 2020."

Surinder Bhogal from Surrey Public Library forwarded my request to Niki Penz, manager of Collections Services, who said that because of the increase after lockdown, they were "happy and grateful to be able to pivot some of [their] collections budget to improving access to [their] ebook collection during the first months of the pandemic" but emphasized that their community relied on the opportunity to gather and use their physical resources.

In January of 2021, Goodereader.com, a website dedicated to the latest news about audiobooks, ebooks, e-notes, e-readers and digital publishing, wrote that primarily due to the pandemic, "Overdrive has reported that libraries all over the world have collectively loaned out over 289 million ebooks, which is a 40% increase from 2019." Showing that despite an overall trend in the borrowing of electronic materials rising from previous years, they suspected that the significant jump this year was because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Though four of B.C.'s largest municipal libraries saw an increase in the borrowing of electronic materials in 2020, Burnaby saw a decrease. Despite Burnaby Public Library making digital materials a priority after closing its locations to the public on March 17, 2020, its annual report shows no details on why their annual data shows a decrease in the borrowing of electronic materials. I reached out to Beth Davies, The Chief Librarian of the Burnaby Public Library, to ask if she had any insight into the decline. Davies connected me with Trish Mau, Director of Collections and Technology, but I have yet to hear back. 

Overall, my research correlates with my hypothesis that the drastic increase in the borrowing of electronic materials in B.C. Public Libraries from 2019 to 2020 were likely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but external data sources could help strengthen findings. 

Incorporating feedback: In response to Data Update #3, Chad mentioned that I should change the title of my visualization from "eBooks and eAudiobooks" to "electronic materials," which I agreed with and changed. He also mentioned that I define what the libraries consider electronic materials to provide context for readers, which I added. He noted that the title in my visualization doesn't need attribution, so I removed it.