30
April
2020
|
16:43
Europe/London

Hackney Libraries release top 10 e-book loans as they increase their digital catalogue.

Hackney’s e-book loans have shot up by 60% during the coronavirus lockdown as the borough’s book lovers satisfy their reading needs with a digital offering. 

Hackney’s Library Service has now released the top ten most popular e-book downloads for the month. 

The list features a wide range of best-selling classics, contemporary fiction, historical learning and self-help books from authors from around the world. Female writers dominate the list and feature both works from Sally Rooney - 2017’s Sunday Times Young Writer Of The Year (Conversations With Friends and Normal People - currently a popular BBC drama). 

The most popular 10 titles are listed below and in order of popularity:

  1. Normal People - Sally Rooney
  2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling
  3. The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
  4. Homes: A Refugee Story - Abu Bakr Al-Rabeeah
  5. Get your sh*t together: How to stop worrying about what you should do so you can finish what you need to do and start doing what you want to do - Sarah Knight
  6. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Norah Harari
  7. Elena Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman
  8. The Foundling - Stacey Halls
  9. Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
  10. This is going to hurt: secret diaries of a junior doctor - Adam Kay

 

Cllr Guy Nicholson, Cabinet Member for Planning, Culture and Inclusive Economy
Cllr Guy Nicholson said "Our top 10 list reveals the good taste and wide-ranging interests of Hackney’s book lovers. We love to see the use of libraries alive and well and in the digital age we’re thrilled to see people flocking to our services as we spend more time at home. Reading has always been a way to escape, learn and connect with other people and there’s never been a better time or need to read or listen to a good book.”

 
Cllr Guy Nicholson, Cabinet Member for Planning, Culture and Inclusive Economy

E-books are just one of the resources available in Hackney’s E-library which is open 24/7 and enjoying a surge in interest as people also download audiobooks, learning materials and access to newspapers and magazines from around the world. 

Other measures to help library users during this time have seen the suspension of library fines with the return date for all items currently out on loan extended to 1 July 2020.

The Hackney Library team are also working hard to highlight educational resources and activity from the literary world on their Twitter and Facebook page