What has been the impact of COVID-19 on book borrowing? In the first half of 2021, 40% of Canadians said that COVID impacted their book borrowing, slightly more than for book buying (36%).
Let’s take a deeper look using the results from the Canadian Book Consumer survey, a quarterly survey conducted by BookNet Canada querying Canadians about their book behaviour. The online survey was fielded primarily in May and July 2021 to 4,936 English-speaking Canadians who met our screening criteria.
But before we jump into the data, here’s some additional information that will help you understand the year-over-year comparisons we’ll make.
In 2020, surveys were fielded in April, July, and October 2020 and January 2021 among a total of 12,022 English-speaking Canadians over the age of 18.
In 2019, surveys were fielded in April, July, and October 2019 and January 2020 among a total of 12,167 English-speaking Canadians over the age of 18.
As a reminder, most of the data comes from questions that asked respondents about their book-related behaviour in the previous month, meaning that respondents surveyed in May 2021 were asked about their April book borrowing behaviour and respondents surveyed in July 2021 were asked about their June behaviour.
Canadians want physical libraries
About eight in ten Canadians believe that it’s important for society to have public libraries for people to visit (82%), and 82% Canadians have a public library branch located near them. About three out of ten Canadians visited a library at least once in the first half of 2021 — 18% visited the library in person and 17% online. In terms of frequency of visits, 41% of Canadians visited a library at least once in 2020, mostly one to four times.
Frequency of in person and online library visits by Canadians during the first half of 2021
In person library visits are highest in June
In 2020, an average of three in ten Canadians visited a library branch at least once (27%). This is similar to Canadians’ visits to library branches so far in 2021. Looking at the frequency of monthly visits to library branches from March 2020 to June 2021, Canadians visited the library in person the most in June both years — 30% in 2021 and 29% in 2020.
Canadian in person and online library visits by quarter
In person library visits are mainly to pick up holds
When asked why Canadians visited a physical library branch in the past month, the main reason was to pick up holds (28%). Other reasons were to find a specific book/author (18%), to browse (14%), to discover a new book/author (14%), and to put books/materials on hold (12%).
Less popular reasons were to study/work/research (8%), read magazines/newspapers (8%), use the computers/internet (8%), and to get a library card for themselves/someone else (6%). (For context, 62% of Canadians have a library card.)
Online library visits led to more checkouts on average than in-person library visits
Did Canadians who visited a library branch in person in the prior month check out more books than those who visited a library online? In April and June 2021, Canadians who visited at least once borrowed on average:
Online: 2.6 print books, 1.3 ebooks, and 0.5 audiobooks
In person: 2.5 print books, 0.5 ebooks, and 0.3 audiobooks
Most Canadians choose books based on the book description
When deciding whether to borrow or buy a book, almost half of Canadians read the book description (48%). Other popular actions that help with decision-making are:
seeing what the subject/genre is (30%);
seeing who the author is (28%);
reading reviews about the book (26%);
looking at the cover (26%); and
checking if the library has it (20%).
Book awareness was mostly driven by specific searches
Most Canadians became aware of the book they borrowed by searching for a specific book and browsing by author or subject, rather than coming across recommendations or lists.
34% searched specifically for this book
33% browsed books by author
33% browsed genre/subject area
24% read other books by author/in series
Less popular awareness factors were bestseller lists (9%), social media (8%), TV (5%), and book prize lists (3%).
Canadians actively search for books by Canadian authors
About four in ten Canadians searched for books about Canada or regions within Canada, books by Canadian authors, books about a group or culture written by people from that group or culture, or books that are partly or fully written in another language (42%).
Canadians are mostly borrowing books for themselves
About half of Canadians are generally checking out holds for themselves (53%), with about a quarter of Canadians borrowing books for another adult (27%), and 20% borrowing books for younger people.
7% of Canadians generally checked out books for someone aged 13-17
6% checked out books for someone aged 8-12
5% checked out books for someone aged 4-7
3% checked out books for someone aged 0-3
Canadians are borrowing books from the library to save money
When we asked Canadians who checked out books from the library why they borrowed instead of bought their book(s), finances were the most popular reason.
49% wanted to save money
40% didn’t want to spend money on the book
19% considered it too expensive to buy
Another reason was around the habit to borrow, either before buying or in general.
32% wanted to read it but not own it
23% had a habit to borrow instead of buy
17% wanted to read it first to decide whether they wanted to own it or not
13% didn’t want it to clutter their home
Other reasons were related to availability:
14% were able to borrow the book and start reading it right away; and
12% didn’t have the book available to them from their local bookstore.
Canadians borrowing fewer books in 2021 so far
Canadians who visited the library at least once in the past month checked out an average of 2.9 book per month in the first half of 2021 — 1.8 print books, 0.7 ebooks, and 0.3 audiobooks. When we compare this to 2020, the average checkouts per month were 5.0 books — 2.8 print books, 1.5 ebooks, and 0.7 audiobooks.
Ebooks continue to make up the majority of Canadian libraries' digital circulation
According to data provided by OverDrive, the world’s leading digital reading platform for libraries and schools, digital checkouts from Canadian libraries experienced an increase of 34% between 2019 and 2020 — 38% for ebooks and 25% for audiobooks.
In reviewing data from 2013, we found that the digital loan of audiobooks increased from 16% in 2013 to 26% in 2020. Of the total number of digital loans, the percentage of ebook loans decreased from 84% in 2013 to 74% in 2020. So far in the first half of 2021, ebooks make up 72% and audiobooks make up 28% of all digital loans.
OverDrive’s ebook and audiobook loans from Canadian libraries
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