By Ben Soltau
Libraries are evolving, not only to stay alive, but to flourish in a new era of media consumption, with loans from libraries only increasing in recent years.
Among the many formats people use to access books, the internet has long since begun to play a significant role in development of the medium, with new and innovative methods of consuming media that libraries aren’t shying away from taking advantage of.
“We started listening to VHS and tapes, CDs and DVDs, then there were CD-ROMs, and there were physical audio books, and now we’re into ‘E-’.” spoke the Executive Manager of Libraries Services for the Northern Beaches Council, Maeva Masterson, “It’s just an evolution of how people consume.”
Libraries across the Northern Beaches and Australia have implemented many new capabilities in response to the changing climate, such as eBooks and eAudiobooks.
“We still get about 1.5 million loans a year, physical and digital, about 40 per cent of that is digital and that’s growing,” said Masterson, “eAudiobooks is the biggest-growing format.”
The common trope that libraries will be in decline following the advent of technological innovation seems less than expected considering this phenomenon.
“We get about 1.1 million visits a year to the libraries, which would make us one of the largest cultural institutions on the Northern Beaches, so there’s no evidence that they’re in decline.”
In an age where non-fiction material can be found in abundance online, adult fiction is becoming the largest loaning category from libraries, while online trends like Booktok have resulted in an increased interest in book clubs.
As for the age demographics in relation to literature popularity: it’s a complex issue, with both the rate and genre of borrowing fluctuating based on age, “It’s an age and stage issue,” said Masterson, “our larger stage group is between 30 and 55.”
Of course, beyond all this is the looming existence of AI. While Northern Beaches Libraries do not collect books written by AI, the future of media consumption is evidently subject to change in potentially unforeseen ways in the coming years.
Featured image: Inside the Mitchell Library reading room. Photo: >littleyiye</CC/flickr
