Downloads prove a big noise for Ireland’s libraries

Irish book borrowers are going online at a faster rate, with more titles downloaded from a library app so far this year than during all of 2019, and one librarian describing demand in her area as “crazy”.

Anyone registered with an Irish library can use the free BorrowBox app to download ebooks and audiobooks on mobile devices. Figures show that due to the restrictions imposed because of the pandemic, downloads of ebooks via the app in Ireland have increased to 529,416 in 2020 to date, compared with 345,877 over all 12 months of last year.

This story ran in the Sunday Times and the Irish Mail on Sunday (not available online)