I’m a book nerd.
One of my weekly habits is to go to the Washoe County Library System’s digital collections website called Overdrive to see what new downloadable ebooks and audiobooks have been added.
Usually there are a couple dozen. But recently, hundreds of new titles were added – and then a few weeks later, hundreds more showed up.
I wanted to know why so I contacted library collections manager Debi Stears.
We talked about everything from the most popular digital books so far this year to how books are chosen, as well as why some digital titles disappear, how COVID-19 changed reading habits, and why there are so many romance novels and not as many Stephen King books as one might expect.
Plus we talked about how you as a Washoe County reader can influence which digital titles are acquired.
Why so many new digital titles?
RGJ: Is it me or were there a lot of new titles added to the library’s digital collections recently?
DS: The county operates on a July 1 fiscal year and so what you were experiencing was the end of our fiscal year. As you know, money is “use it or lose it” and so our goal is to always spend exactly all of our funds that are available for new materials.
The reason you saw such an uptick in digital titles is that the same supply chain issues we’re all dealing with hit the publishing industry. Books are printed in China. Lots of publication dates have been pushed out – where we expected a book would be published in April, now it may have a November release date. When it comes to May and June, we’re really looking at what we received to make sure we’ve spent all of this year’s money. And this year, we had even more money left (because of delays in receiving print books) so we ramped up our ebook spending, which invoices immediately.
How do you pick which titles to get?
RGJ: When people search for an ebook or downloadable audiobook on the county’s Overdrive web page, if the library doesn’t have that title, there’s often a button you can hit to recommend that title. I do this all the time, then when one of the titles I’ve recommended is acquired, it’s automatically put on hold for me and I’m notified. With the latest flood of new titles, this happened for many of my recommendations, some I’d even recommended so long ago that I couldn’t remember what the book was about. How do you decide which ones to get?
DS: My mission is to build a collection that represents the needs and interests of our community. So it’s very important to listen to what our community tells us they want.
We can anticipate 80 to 90 percent of what people are going to be interested in checking out from the library based on national trends. There are certain authors who are always big authors. There will always be a waitlist for their titles. Publishers release information on what kind of sales they expect. We use those book industry standards to try to anticipate what people are going to look for.
But then we also solicit recommendations. Anytime somebody searches for something and we don’t have it, I want to know about it.
RGJ: How many purchase requests do you get a month for digital titles through Overdrive?
DS: We get 2,000 to 3,000 requests for new titles each month that come through Overdrive, and we just don’t have the budget to buy that many.
But when we do have an influx of money or we realize, gosh, we’re sitting on too much cash for this point in the year, then we go to that recommendations list, and we sort it by the number of requests that have come in for that title.
We just got another $28,000 from the state, and that is exactly how we’re spending it. I’m looking at what requests we haven’t yet been able to buy and how many requests we’ve received. If only one person has requested something on Overdrive, it’s not very likely that we’re going to buy it. It’s really three, four and five people requesting it that makes it come up onto our radar as a possibility.
Why do digital titles go away?
RGJ: I’ve heard that libraries are sometimes limited to the number of times a digital title can be checked out. So I feel bad whenever I download an audiobook, don’t finish it in the three-week checkout window, and have to check it out again. Am I diminishing the chance that others can check out the title, such as Mona Eltahawy’s “Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution,” which I’ve checked out multiple times?
DS: We have four major publishers in the United States. They each set their own rules and are looking at each other to try to make sure they’re not letting themselves get taken advantage of.
Their argument is that if you buy, say, 15 copies of a new Stephen King book to meet initial demand in physical format, maybe two of those copies are lost by the person who checked it out or dropped in the bathtub. Eventually, they are worn out or gone and can’t be checked out anymore.
So the publishers say it’s not reasonable that you can buy a digital copy that after 400 checkouts is in as good a condition as it was on checkout number one. So some started limiting the number of checkouts you can have and then you have to buy another copy or it disappears. The more common thing we’re seeing now is you can buy a license for two years and then it disappears.
That’s really impacting what we can do because Stephen King audiobooks are now $120 a copy. We’re still going to buy it, but when it expires in two years, we really have to look at whether there’s enough demand to spend another $120 on replacing that copy, or should I spend that money on new books. The price variation is huge.
I mentioned there was about a $28,000 grant from the state. Some of the books I’m buying are $8 a copy and some are $120 a copy so we get a lot of bang for our buck for those $8 copies. There are certain genres – romance and cozy mysteries – with tons and tons and tons of titles at that $8 price point. And so I can buy a lot of $8 books for every $120 book.
We’re always trying to find a balance. Of course we want the Stephen King and the David Baldacci books in our collection, but we also want some of those cost effective titles.
It’s funny – “Hymens and Headscarves” is a one-copy-one-user model where the publisher doesn’t limit the number of checkouts or the time we have it. It costs us the same whether one person or 1,000 people check it out. With that state grant, we got a lot of those types of titles. It’s great because then they’re in our collection permanently.
Are digital titles more popular than physical copies?
RGJ: Tell me about the number of users for digital titles.
DS: For physical vs. digital in 2021, it was:
- Physical checkouts: 879,022
- Digital checkouts: 747,759
RGJ: That’s 54 percent hard copies and 46 percent digital. How are those numbers divided up among users – do some prefer one format over another?
DS: About 44 percent of our patrons check out only physical materials, 42 percent are digital only, and 14 percent check out both.
Why do people like digital books?
RGJ: In your experience, what kinds of books lend themselves to digital? For instance, I find graphic novels and manga much easier to read in ebook form.
DS: Self-help books and pop business books are incredibly popular in the ebook format, but not in print.
RGJ: How have digital reading habits changed?
DS: Pre-COVID, we had lots of folks who said “No, I really I like the act of reading a physical book” or they say “I’m on my phone enough so I don’t want to I want to do books on my phone.” Well, once COVID hit and we closed to the public, online became the only source and so COVID really has (changed the reading habits of) even folks who were diehard physical book enthusiasts.
Top 10 downloadable audiobooks so far in 2022 at Washoe library
- “The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah
- “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens
- “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” by Mark Manson
- “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” by J.K. Rowling
- “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling
- “The Guest List” by Lucy Foley
- “The Last Thing He Told Me” by Laura Dave
- “Educated: A Memoir” by Tara Westover
- “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
- “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J.K. Rowling
Top 10 ebooks so far in 2022 at Washoe library
- “The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah
- “The Last Thing He Told Me” by Laura Dave
- “World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
- “Miracle Country: A Memoir of a Family and a Landscape” by Kendra Atleework
- “Apples Never Fall” by Liane Moriarty
- “A Gambling Man” by David Baldacci
- “The Dark Hours” by Michael Connelly
- “The Judge’s List” by John Grisham
- “The Midnight Library” Matt Haig
- “Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman
How to get a library card online
- Visit www.washoecountylibrary.us and click on “Get a Card.”
- Come into any Washoe County Library location within 30 days to keep your account active.
- You will need to bring a photo ID with your current address, or a current photo ID and proof of current address.
- Washoe County Library cards are available to residents of Washoe County and surrounding counties.
How to check out ebooks and audiobooks using a phone
- Download the free Libby app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
- Search for Washoe County Library and add your library card number. Washoe County residents who do not yet have a library card may also be able to register using a phone number.
- Browse or search for ebooks and audiobooks. Items that are available may be checked out with one click, and are automatically downloaded and returned at the end of the lending period. You can place a hold on checked-out items.
- If you use a Kindle to read ebooks, you can send ebooks to your Kindle using the Libby app or by following the instructions for computer users.
How to check out ebooks and audiobooks using a computer
- Visit catalog.washoecountylibrary.us and log in to your account.
- Browse or search for ebooks and audiobooks. You can use the search filters to only show electronic items, or browse them alongside the library’s physical collection.
- Click on “Check out Libby/Overdrive” to check out an item. You can read or listen to your checked-out items right from your account in the library catalog.
- You can also access the library’s digital collection only by logging at washoecounty.overdrive.com.
Mark Robison covers local government for the Reno Gazette-Journal, as well as writes Fact Checker and Ask the RGJ articles. His position is supported by donations and grants. Because of this, the journalism he creates is free for all to read. If you’d like to see more articles like this, please consider sharing this article or giving through PayPal here – 100% of donations go to Mark’s wages.
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