Record numbers using e-book library amid lockdown
Ljubljana, 5 May - The Slovenian online library Biblos has seen record numbers of users during the coronavirus lockdown. Almost 100,000 e-books have been borrowed since the start of the epidemic, almost as much as the total amount of e-books accessed during the entire 2019.
Zagreb, Croatia
E-book reader.
Photo: Hina/STA
Ljubljana
Biblos, Slovenia's sole e-book library.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
Ljubljana
Biblos, Slovenia's sole e-book library.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
Libraries started to reopen this week, but during the quarantine period, Biblos, Slovenia's sole online library, was the only way to get one's hands on Slovenian e-books.
Since mid-March, Biblos, featuring more than 4,000 e-books and spanning 61 libraries, has experienced a spike in users, which would probably leave a long-term impact on reading habits, said publisher Beletrina.
In 2019, a total of 98,000 e-books were accessed using the Biblos platform, which is currently catering to some 25,000 bookworms.
The users hail from more than 70 countries, apart from Slovenia most are from Italy, Austria, Croatia, the UK, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, the US and Luxembourg.
Following the declaration of the epidemic, up to 10,000 persons accessed the platform per day, with the average daily amount of e-books borrowed standing at 1,740.
Beletrina launched Biblos in 2013 in conjunction with major Slovenian libraries.