Physical book loans have decreased by a third in the last five years, but the borrowing of e-books is surging, Malta Libraries figures show,
In 2023, members borrowed 685,000 physical books. That number is significantly lower than the million-plus times people borrowed books in 2018.
Physical book borrowing slightly increased in 2019 but collapsed in the first year of the pandemic in 2020 when Malta Libraries loaned out 617,000 books.
Since then, numbers have been increasing steadily but are still far from pre-pandemic borrowing levels.
The borrowing of e-books, however, has increased sixfold since 2018 to almost 60,000.
In 2018, library members borrowed 8,200 e-books. Yet unpublished information shows that 58,575 e-books were borrowed in 2023.
Those books were in English as e-books in Maltese are currently unavailable from the Malta libraries platform.
Physical books are still far more popular
In a recent TVM interview, Malta Libraries CEO Cheryl Falzon said that e-books in Maltese will be available later this year.
Fiction is by far the most popular for e-book readers, with all the top five borrowed books from that category.
A historical novel about the Titanic, The Second Mrs Astor, was the most popular borrowed e-book.
Library sign-ups beat pre-pandemic levels
The data, seen by Times of Malta, also shows that new members who joined Malta’s public libraries in 2023 surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
Over 8,000 became new library members last year, according to data that has yet to be published.
In 2019, just over 6,000 new library members joined, but new memberships dropped in the two years marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, for example, only 3,435 joined.
More than half of the public library’s new members are under 18. A total of 4,215 members are juniors, with the vast majority of them, 3,915, being under 13.
Reading marathon on April 24
On April 24, Malta Libraries is holding a reading marathon in Maltese at the Central Public Library in Floriana.
Authors, librarians and collaborators will read excerpts of their choice in Maltese from favourite books, scripts or poetry collections non-stop from 9am to 9pm in a marathon.
Those readings include household Maltese authors like Trevor Zahra and horror writer Anton Grasso.
The marathon will be streamed live on Malta Libraries’ online platforms (Facebook and YouTube) and on Calypso Radio 101.8FM. The public can also attend the event live.