Digital readers are changing the traditional library system

Those wanting to borrow the e-book version of the bestseller, The Kite Runner,from the Vancouver Public Library will have to get on the waiting list fast – there are only nine copies available, and nearly 50 people are waiting to get their scrolling finger on that book.

That’s how popular e-book downloads are. The Vancouver Public Library has had downloadable audio books and e-books for more than 10 years. In 2009, it started offering downloadable e-books specifically for electronic readers, but it wasn’t until the spring of 2010, when the Kobo eReader and Apple’s iPad were launched in Canada, that the number of downloads really began to soar. The number of e-books borrowed last month is ten times as high as it was a year ago.

Posted in: Digital