Popularity of e-materials levelled off in 2021
E-audiobook loans continued to grow in 2021, use of e-books fell for the first time.
The growth in the use of Helmet libraries’ e-materials began to gradually slow down during the second year of the coronavirus pandemic. The popularity of e-audiobooks continued to grow, the number of loans increasing by 11 per cent from 2020. By contrast, the number of e-book loans started to decline for the first time, falling by eight per cent. The combined number of e-book and audiobook loans fell by just under two per cent.
The acquisition of e-materials was still invested in. At the end of the year, the collection of Helmet libraries contained just over 18,000 e-books and audiobooks, approximately 2,000 more than in the previous year. The number of customers using the e-book services increased by nearly seven per cent.
In 2021, Helmet library customers could access four e-book services, of which the Swedish-language Biblio was discontinued in November. Swedish-language e-books are now mainly acquired in the OverDrive service. See the lists of the most borrowed e-books at the end of this article.
Audiobooks continue to be popular
The growth of e-audiobook lending continues, albeit at a slightly slower rate than in the previous year. Audiobook lending increased by 11 per cent from 2020 in both the Finnish e-book service, Ellibs, and the international e-book service, OverDrive. As for e-book lending, Ellibs’ lending figures decreased by ten per cent and those of OverDrive’s by four per cent.
The use of audiobook streaming in the Naxos Spoken Word Library increased by eight per cent.
The most borrowed audiobooks by service were as follows:
- Katja Kettu: Surujenkerääjä (Ellibs)
- Barack Obama: A Promised Land (OverDrive)
- Tim Macintosh-Smith: Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires (Naxos Spoken Word)
Use of e-magazines continues to grow
The combined number of times the e-magazine services were used increased by 20 per cent from the previous year, with the download figures approaching the two million mark. The share of Finnish magazines is significant. The eMagz service increased its popularity the most, by 23 per cent, with more than 1.2 million downloads. Reading of Finnish newspapers decreased by two per cent from the previous year: the local ePress service was used about 82,000 times.
The use of international press services increased by ten per cent from the previous year. The new OverDrive newspaper selection was opened in March, and the service collected almost 48,000 downloads by the end of the year. The most popular magazine in OverDrive was The Economist Continental Europe Edition.
The international newspaper and magazine service, PressReader, amassed 509,000 downloads, with newspapers being the most popular. The most popular magazine in the service was Auto Express. The use of Flipster, which contains mainly English-language magazines, decreased by 26 per cent.
The most read newspapers in eMagz
- Me Naiset
- Anna
- Suomen Kuvalehti
- Tekniikan Maailma
- Apu
The most read newspapers in PressReader
- Hufvudstadsbladet
- Svenska Dagbladet
- The Guardian
- Aftonbladet
- Le Figaro
The most read newspapers in overDrive
- The Economist Continental Europe Edition
- The New Yorker
- The Economist Asia Edition
- Guardian Weekly
- New Scientist International Edition
Decrease in the use of e-music
The use of e-music and image recording services fell compared to the previous year. The number of times the Naxos music services were used decreased across the board, although the number of songs accessed in Naxos Jazz Library increased slightly. The use of the Rockway online courses also decreased, numbering 1,900 loans.
Naxos Video Library was discontinued from the e-music services at the end of the year. The new Medici.tv service opened in August contains over 3,000 videos of concerts, operas and ballets, and documentaries and educational material. Medici.tv collected more than 8,000 downloads in its first month, after which there have been 1,100–3,300 downloads per month.
Most borrowed in Ellibs, 2021
- Miika Nousiainen: Pintaremontti
- Barack Obama: Luvattu maa (A Promised Land)
- Antti Holma: Kaikki elämästä(ni)
- Katja Kettu: Surujenkerääjä (Sorrow Collector)
- Maria Pettersson: Historian jännät naiset: Merirosvoja, meedioita, varkaita ja vakoojaprinsessoja
- Wexi Korhonen: Kuoleman kuva
- Heikki Herlin: Tuollapäin on highway
- Ismo Leikola: Suo, kuokka ja Hollywood
- Kari Hotakainen: Tarina
- Erin Carlson: Meryl Streep: Valkokankaan kuningatar (Queen Meryl: The Iconic Roles, Heroic Deeds, and Legendary Life of Meryl Streep)
Most borrowed in OverDrive, 2021
- Barack Obama: A Promised Land
- Jessica Bruder: Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
- Michelle Obama: Becoming
- Adam Grant: Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know
- Stephen Fry: Mythos: Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths Series
- Matthew McConaughey: Greenlights
- Mark Manson: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
- Kazuo Ishiguro: Klara and the Sun
- Brenda Chapman: Cold Mourning: Stonechild and Rouleau Mystery Series
- Brit Bennett: The Vanishing Half
Read also:
Welcome to the eLibrary
Photo: Jonna Pennanen / City of Helsinki