DrWebNew Data From OverDrive: Libraries Break Digital Lending Records in 2025 with Over 820 Million Checkouts and Over 1 Billion Minutes Streamed – OverDrive
Editor’s Note: Thanks to Gary Price, infoDOCKET, at Library Journal. WP AI provided the featured image. –DrWeb
From OverDrive:
In 2025, libraries around the world continued to prove their essential role in connecting communities with stories, information, and entertainment, breaking new digital lending records in the process. As the need for flexible, on-demand access to books and media continued to grow, libraries expanded their digital collections to meet readers where they are, delivering record usage across ebooks, audiobooks, digital magazines, and streaming video.
Using the Libby and Sora apps, readers borrowed more than 820 million digital titles worldwide in 2025, marking a 10.9% year-over-year increase and reflecting sustained engagement across public libraries, schools, and institutions. At the same time, academic and public libraries offering streaming video through Kanopy reached new heights, with 29.9 million plays and over 1 billion minutes streamed, reinforcing libraries’ expanding role in digital learning and entertainment.
This growth translated into meaningful milestones for library systems and readers alike. For the first time, more than 200 library systems, consortia, and school libraries surpassed one million digital checkouts, signaling both the scale of digital adoption and the trust communities place in libraries to provide equitable, cost-free access to high-quality content.
2025 digital lending records from the Libby and Sora global network:
- Total digital checkouts from libraries and schools: 820.5 million (+10% YoY)
- Ebooks borrowed: 379.4 million (+3%)
- Audiobooks borrowed: 315.9 million (+13%)
- Magazines borrowed: 125.1 million (+31%)
- Comics borrowed: 55.7 million (+22%)
- Adult titles borrowed: 520.4 million (7%)
- Children and Young Adult titles borrowed: 174.6 million (+9%)
- Public library checkouts: 737.6 million (+9%)
- School checkouts: 63.4 million (+14%)
- Libby installs: 9.8 million (+3%)
- New Kanopy users: 3.6 million (+41%)
2025 streaming records from Kanopy:
- Plays: 29.9 million (+8%)
- Total minutes streamed: 1.05 billion (+10%)
Top Ten Ebooks by Digital Checkouts of 2025:
Top Ten Audiobooks by Digital Checkouts of 2025:
Top Ten Authors by Digital Checkouts of 2025:
Top 10 library systems circulating ebooks, audiobooks and digital magazines in 2025:
Top 5 consortia circulating ebooks, audiobooks and digital magazines in 2025:
Top digital-circulating library system by country in 2025:
- United States: Los Angeles Public Library
- Australia: South Australian Public Library Network
- Austria: Arbeiterkammer
- Canada: Toronto Public Library
- Denmark: eReolen Global
- Germany: Verbund der Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins (VÖBB)
- New Zealand: Auckland Libraries
- Singapore: National Library Board Singapore
- Switzerland: Aubora OverDrive
- United Kingdom: The Libraries Consortium
18 library systems, consortia, and school libraries surpassing one million digital checkouts for the first time:
- Gwinnett County Public Library
- Prince George’s County Memorial Library System
- Gold Coast Libraries
- Akron-Summit County Public Library
- Montgomery County Library District Consortium
- Los Angeles Unified School District
- Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections
- Aubora OverDrive
- Pinellas Public Library Cooperative
- New Orleans Public Library
- Loudoun County Public Library
- Boobook
- Deschutes Public Library
- Central Arkansas Library System
- Plano Public Library System
- eReolen Global
- Boise Public Library
- CLAMS
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