Who’s reading what, Boise? Here are library’s most popular books in year of the virus
Crawdads, dogs, and a certain elephant and pig all topped the list of Boise’s most checked-out books in 2020.
Data provided by the Boise Public Library system shows that despite the COVID-19 closures that shuttered the library for much of the year, some of Boise’s most popular reads were checked out hundreds of times.
The most popular? None other than the Guinness Book of World Records. It was checked out 411 times, according to records shared Dec. 29.
After that, Delia Owens’ “Where The Crawdads Sing,” a story of a girl growing up in the North Carolina marshes, was checked out 367 times. “Guts” by Raina Telgemeier, a graphic novel for middle-graders that deals with anxiety and stomach problems, was checked out 339 times.
Children’s’ books largely ruled the list of the 49 books checked out most. Mo Willems, author of books such as “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” and the Elephant and Piggie series, appears with hits like “Pigs Make Me Sneeze!” (309 checkouts) and “I Really Like Slop!” (285). Willems wrote 22 of the 49 books checked out most this year, and his books on the list alone were checked out for a combined total of more than 5,000 times.
Telgemeier, author of several graphic novels, and Dav Pilkey, author of the Captain Underpants book series and the Dog Man series of graphic novels, both appeared on the list four times each. J.K. Rowling made two appearances — one each for the first and second books in the Harry Potter series.
Other authors appeared only once, including Idaho native Tara Westover for her memoir “Educated” (298 checkouts); Jojo Moyes for her historical fiction novel “The Giver of Stars,” (245) and former first lady Michelle Obama for her memoir “Becoming” (189).
The list includes physical items, no audiobooks or ebooks. Because the Boise Public Library is a member of a consortium that allows users to share books from libraries in one city with libraries in another, not all checkouts were to readers in Boise.
Jamie Lundergreen, spokesperson for the Boise Public Library, said that other high-interest books that didn’t make the list of books most checked out included several award-winners and best sellers, like “The Vanishing Half” by Britt Bennett, “Untamed” by Glennon Doyle and “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Books focused on race and racism, such as “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi and “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander, were also in high demand. That follows a national trend that sprung up in the weeks of protests this summer following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others killed by police as people tried to educate themselves on racial issues.
The other popular titles were largely new books on the bestseller list or things that had been recently adapted into television shows or movies, Lundergreen said in an email. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which came out in March, was the most popular video game.
Overall library circulation was down in 2020 compared with previous years, according to data from the library’s board of trustees. From October 2018 to September 2019, more than 1.5 million books were checked out. A year later in that same period, about 1 million books were checked out.
The libraries were one of the many city of Boise buildings Mayor Lauren McLean closed in March in an attempt to mitigate spread of COVID-19 in the early days of the virus. Those who had books out at the time suddenly found their due dates extended until June.
In the meantime, borrowing almost completely dropped off. Only 263 books circulated in April, a 99.8% decrease from the 112,647 books checked out in April the year before.
Use of digital materials, such as e-books or audiobooks that could be accessed remotely on personal devices, shot up in that time, a growth that has largely sustained before a drop in October. Circulation numbers show that digital materials had already been increasing in popularity, but they rose sharply in April, when 61,995 digital items were used, up 27.6% from the year prior.
In May, the libraries opened again to offer limited curbside pickup of materials, a program the library later expanded. Only 2,729 books were circulated that month, though, compared with 133,862 the year before, a 98% decrease. Digital materials increased: People checked out 64,344 digital items, up 38.9% from the year before.
Lundergreen said curbside pickup has been incredibly popular, though — from Oct. 4 to Dec. 6, Boise libraries averaged more than 2,000 curbside pickups a week among the five library locations.
Since May, more people have been checking out physical books from the library, but numbers are still nowhere near where they were before. From March, when the first case of COVID-19 was publicly announced in Idaho, to October, the last month numbers are available, 403,254 books were checked out, compared with more than 1.06 million in the same period a year earlier.
The five libraries opened again for browsing at the end of September, although sessions were limited to 20 minutes during specific hours. When Gov. Brad Little moved Idaho back to Stage 2, McLean closed the libraries again, along with several other city buildings. Curbside service and computer access is still available to those who need it, but in-person browsing is no longer available.
The libraries will remain closed to in-person browsing through at least Jan. 15.
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 11:33 AM.
.jpg)