COVID-19 pushed libraries to online, curbside services

For some Lorain County libraries, the pandemic made a marked turn toward online materials and e-books. In a quick snapshot, the Avon Lake Public Library's downloadables — e-books and audiobooks — were up more than 15,000 in 2020 from 2019. Director William Rutger said that pushed the library to expand its digital collection. It offers TV and movie streaming and even has a service for British television. He said the library already was somewhat prepared for this shift as the move toward digital has increased each year. "We already had a really good infrastructure for digital resources," Rutger said. "That's been a trend and we see it as a way to provide greater access." Some of the biggest ways Avon Lake has grown its e-book collection is really through people becoming aware of it. Rutger said it was something the library began to push during the pandemic, as well as curbside services. Avon Lake is part of the Ohio Digital Library, which is a pooled resource for libraries. Rutger said the libraries pay into the cooperative, which gives patrons access. E-books are an added expense for libraries. Rutger said libraries get charged for e-books, and it sometimes costs more than hard-copy books. Rutger said publishers know it's a shared resource, not just for one person, and so they charge licensing fees for it. Lorain's library buys the licenses for each title, which can make e-books more expensive. But she said it's a service that's important to provide for residents. Amazon itself won't sell e-books to libraries, which means that if a book is published through Amazon, Rutger said the library won't always have an e-book version of it. Because of the growth of e-books at Avon Lake, Rutger said the staff moved more funds into the digital collection to increase the access to titles. "We've definitely seen that growth," he said. "A lot of people are just becoming aware that the access is beyond just the physical items." Jennifer Harmon, Elyria Public Library programs and marketing manager, said that since e-books got started, the library has been increasing its digital presence. But COVID-19 brought a surge to digital. Elyria uses Hoopla for books, audiobooks, music, movies and TV. It's a pay-as-you-go program, so Harmon said the library increased from seven checkouts per month per patron to 25. Elyria library uncapped its Hoopla budget because Harmon said the staff wasn't sure exactly what the number was going to be. But 2020 had the highest circulation numbers for electronic media. Harmon said the library made a big push on social media so people could be aware of the digital options and wouldn't have to set foot into the library. There were more than 148,000 electionic-media borrows in 2020, up more than 40,000 from 2019. Those numbers haven't really leveled off in the new year, Harmon said. Digital downloads are still over what Elyria would usually see. But foot traffic into the buildings is increasing, especially as Elyria has several new and improved libraries across the city. Libraries also started issuing e-cards because the building was physically closed. Avon Lake and Elyria reported seeing an increase in people just getting library cards in the first place. And because every public library receives some state funding, any Ohio resident can get a library card at any public library. Lorain Public Library's Director of Technical Service Cheryl Paganelli said Lorain saw a 20 percent increase in e-book usage and a 13 percent increase in audiobooks. But the biggest increase was in streaming video, more than doubling from about 7,000 to more than 14,000. "We were able to increase our budget in those areas while we were shut down," Paganelli said. "People were really able to take advantage of staying home." Like Avon Lake, Paganelli said much of Lorain's increase was people becoming aware of the digital services. The library also was able to add services such as live tutoring. "We were really happy to offer all those things," she said. "It made us feel so good that people were still taking advantage of the library's resources." Paganelli said the library is the center of the community, and people missed those interactions. But she said libraries were still useful to people even when they couldn't physically come into the building. Sometimes people still want a physical book in hand, which Rutger said Avon Lake sees a lot of — particularly for fiction and leisure reading. To get a hard-copy book without actually having to go into the library, curbside services were launched at libraries. Avon Lake launched a tailored titles service for adults, so they could still get the feel of browsing the library without actually being there. "It's a way for the staff to be a browser for you," Rutger said. "We curate some titles for you and people like that experience. The physical book is definitely not going away." Some libraries like Oberlin and Amherst didn't see a big push to the digital world. Amherst Public Library Public Relations Manager Becky Denes said everything across the board remained pretty much the same. Services' popularity was in flux throughout the month. Denes said Amherst already had a strong collection before the pandemic, and she said that started them off strongly. As more people get vaccinated, Denes said people have become more comfortable coming into the building, and Amherst has had strong circulation numbers through its curbside service. "It's not quite what it was, but it's definitely coming back," Denes said. "For me that's one of the things I'm most looking forward to is allowing people to gather again at the library." Oberlin Library Director Darren McDonough said there was a slight increase in e-book usage, which he said is common every year. But it's been the curbside use that has been off the charts. McDonough said people can email or call the library and they go retrieve the book to pick up. "It really was an easy service to provide," he said. "It's a safe way to still use the library." McDonough said his library hasn't really pinpointed why e-books didn't surge with the pandemic, except that perhaps Oberlin residents prefer the physical book. Oberlin has slowly started reopening its doors to the public with set hours for 20 people or less to come in and browse the library again. In the morning, people can call and schedule a time to come in and check out books. "People in Oberlin, they just come sometimes to talk to the staff," McDonough said. "Or because it's hot and they're looking for AC. … The virtual thing hasn't really caught on here." McDonough said the library probably will keep the curbside services even after the pandemic. But he said the staff is really looking forward to the time programming can resume and they can be a place for people to not feel alone. The shift the pandemic created for libraries ultimately created more ways for libraries to provide for the public, Rutger said. "It goes back to our fundamental service and that's connecting people to information and resources and reading," he said. "The library is here to bridge that for people." Contact Laina Yost at (440) 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com.