By Kyle Marshall, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Burlington Public Library (BPL) reached a milestone in 2023 that they have never hit before.
The library announced that members borrowed more than one million physical books last year, a classification that includes regular and large print hardcovers, trade paperbacks, mass-market paperbacks, graphic novels, manga novels, and children’s board books.
“We’re thrilled and deeply grateful that Burlington residents use their public library to feed their reading passion,” said BPL CEO Lita Barrie.
“BPL is committed to providing an amazing book collection that caters to our diverse community of readers and is accessible to all.”
According to the library, adult non-fiction and children’s picture books were some of their most borrowed, including A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, Pets of Park Avenue by Stefanie London, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson, and Spare by Prince Harry.
The staff has heard much positive feedback from people visiting the library: that it is a great way to connect with others in the community; that being at the library in person adds value to their lives; and that even those who enjoy purchasing books also still enjoy borrowing from the library.
Hitting the one million borrows milestone was a pleasant and welcome surprise for the staff.
“Since COVID, we’ve been focused on rebuilding visits to our branches and physical borrowing and we’re really happy to see this trend,” said Elise Copps, Director of Communications and Engagement for BPL.
The library eliminated daily late fees three years ago, resetting all customer accounts to an amount owing of $0, which has been a positive change for the library’s customers as well.
Staff had discovered that some customers were apprehensive about borrowing because of outstanding late fees or because they just didn’t want to accumulate any.
Last year, the library also introduced a savings tracker for their print receipts that shows people how much they are saving when they use the library.
BPL has also taken on other initiatives over the last few years to meet the community’s reading needs and to encourage more people to borrow. Some of these initiatives include:
- Launching “Handpicked For You,” a service that allows customers to have staff pick out a bundle of books and/or recommend a list of titles for them, based on information given via an online form.
- Adding “Staff Picks” and themed book displays in their branches.
- Promoting book recommendations on their website and social media pages.
- Reintroducing their express collection service after a hiatus during the pandemic. This allowed customers to borrow a popular title without placing it on hold or having to wait for an available copy.
- Increasing renewal limits.
After adding eBooks and eAudiobooks to the final tally, BPL had close to 1.4 million borrows in 2023.
“Our digital borrows continue to be strong,” Copps said. “But many customers still love the feeling of a paper book in their hands.”
For more information, visit www.bpl.on.ca/.
