The DC Public Library has hit a major digital milestone.
District readers have checked out more than two million digital books from the library so far this year, nearly double the amount checked out last year, according to a DC Public Library release.
"District residents are demonstrating an increasing reliance on our online offerings," Executive Director of the DC Public Library Richard Reyes-Gavilan said in the release.
Library officials said the move to online check-outs skyrocketed in 2020 during the pandemic with the help of the Libby app and OverDrive platform. Since then, people have gotten used to reading digitally on cellphones or personal e-readers and continued the habit.
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Tiphanie Yanique's "Land of Love and Drowning” was the two millionth borrowed digital book, the library said. The book is a historical fiction set in the Virgin Islands in the 1900s. It received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Rosenthal Foundation Award in 2014, according to the Libby app.
As long as D.C. continues to engage online, the library said it will monitor digital trends. Next year, the library hopes three million digital books will be checked out.
To download the Libby app or learn about borrowing through an e-reader, visit here.
