An extra investment of €200,000 has been allocated this week to buy more eBooks and eAudiobooks for public libraries.
Libraries have faced a significant increase in demand for online services during the COVID-19 crisis.
Donegal County Library recorded 7,986 online loans between January and April 2020, including 4,346 eBooks loans and 3,640 eAudio loans. 2,507 Borrowbox users also logged on in the county.
The new fund follows a €200,000 investment at the beginning of the crisis.
Mr Michael Ring TD, Minister for Rural and Community Development has also announced a fund of €20,000 to support the provision of an EasyReader collection of books for emerging adult readers and people with literacy needs.
Announcing the funding, Minister Ring said, “Since the public libraries closed on March 12th the levels of usage of our online library services has soared and is at unpredented levels. Feedback from users continues to be extremely positive and to help boost the online resources I am delighted to increase my Department’s contribution to online resources from €200,000 to €400,000.
“This is the second investment of €200,000 and since the first investment in late March nearly 21,000 new members have registered on Borrowbox, the service which allows access to the eBooks and eAudiobooks. This is nearly three times as many people as registered for the service during the first two months of the year so it shows how important and popular the service is. I would encourage everyone to join the library. It is free to do so and you can join via the Libraries Ireland website.”
Libraries are part of Phase Two of the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business when they will commence a ‘contact and collect’ service in selected branches.
You can join the library online and get eBooks, eAudiobooks, online magazines and newspapers for free straight away, or even do an online course or learn a language. Just visit: www.donegallibrary.ie
