Project Outcomes
Project Outcomes
List any important outcomes or findings not previously reported:
Like so many digital services, New Hampshire Downloadable Books attracted a wealth of new users (18,410) during the first half of the reporting period, seeing a 33 percent increase from the previous period (13,823). The latter half of the reporting period attracted 12,579 new-to-the-service users. In the first half of the reporting period, the number of unique users ballooned from 46,375 to 55,206, an increase of 19 percent -- up from 9 percent during the previous reporting periods. The latter half of the reporting period had 52,033 unique users.
During the current reporting period, library users from the 203 participating public libraries checked out 2.85 million eBook, audiobook, and digital magazine titles -- 1.39 million in the first half of the reporting period, showing a 17 percent increase in usage during the pandemic, and 1.46 million in the latter half.
While digital audiobooks dominated the checkouts in the previous reporting period, with 56 percent of the checkouts, when the state’s stay-at-home order took effect and public libraries around the state closed, digital usage moved from audiobooks to eBooks, with April and May showing 53 percent of the checkouts in eBook format. By the latter half of the reporting period, audiobook checkouts again surpassed eBook circulation by a 2 percent margin.
The NHDB saw a 26% increase in eBook circulation (previous reporting period: 529,518) during the first half of the reporting period (666,943), as patrons across the state came to quickly rely on digital content. Statistics for eBook usage grew again in the latter half of the reporting period by nearly 3 percent, showing that many library patrons would continue using digital content. In the first half of the reporting period, digital audiobook checkouts increased nearly 10 percent from the previous reporting period and another 3.4 percent in the latter half; however, it was the lowest audiobook usage increases reported from the past five reporting periods, which previously saw 17-23 percent increases.
The digital collection contains 16,277 (previous: 13,307) eBook titles 34,661 copies (previous 26,583 copies) and 12,035 (previous 10,278) audiobook titles 28,994 (previous 21,410 copies). The eBook collection grew in the number of unique titles (2,970) despite the expiring nature of digital licensing due to the increased patron demand for eBook content at the start of the pandemic. The NHDB weeded a staggering 1,106 eBook titles during the full reporting period rather than relicense this older content. The number of unique audiobook titles rose by 1757 and 5415 audiobook copies.
A large collection of more than 3000 digital magazines were added to the collection in December 2020, first as a trial collection by the vendor. Total magazine checkouts for the reporting period increased by 156 percent thanks to the broader collection of both popular titles and specialized content.
The technology consultant continues to provide administrative and technical support to the NHDB member libraries. This includes invoicing members and managing the current $400,000 content budget, acting as a liaison between the member libraries and the vendor, and providing training and technical support to the librarians. She answered hundreds of emails and phone calls throughout the reporting period, providing technical support for librarians needing assistance with setting up SIP2 authentication or utilizing the vendor’s API to display the digital collection in the ILS, and helping librarians answer their patrons’ many questions and requests for assistance. She provided three staff training sessions for learning to use the service reaching 33 librarians during seven contact hours. However, the technology consultant estimates spending many hours each week handling administrative tasks, answering questions, and preparing training materials.
Please briefly describe the importance of these outcomes and findings for future program planning:
During the state’s stay at home order, patron demand for digital content -- especially eBooks -- increased dramatically. The NHDB shifted their focus towards eBook content, applying grant funds specifically to that format. Public libraries shifted their print and programming budgets to purchase additional digital content from the NHDB vendor and competing vendors to keep up with demand. Libraries experienced an average increase to unique users of 19 percent. It is likely that the digital content will continue to attract new users and keep the current users. Despite libraries reopening and library users being able to access physical collections, the NHDB did not see any reduction in usage during the latter half of the reporting period and instead experienced another increase in circulation (5.5 percent). In fact digital content circulation figures from the 2020 calendar year showed that a full 34 percent of all library checkouts statewide were digital. While librarians see the NHDB as a core service, librarians from both large and small libraries realize that they could not have created such a robust collection and service for their users without working together and with the management of the NH State Library.
Explain one or two of the most significant lessons learned for others wanting to adopt any facets of this project:
The NHDB circulated 2,857,281 (1,390,141 and 1,467,140) audiobooks, eBooks, and digital magazines throughout the reporting period from a collection of 16,277 eBook titles (34,661 copies), 12,035 audiobook titles (28,994 copies), and a collection of more than 3000 simultaneous-use digital magazine titles. The NHDB library membership includes 203 NH public libraries and serves 70,965 active users throughout the full reporting period across the state.
As digital audiobooks and eBooks became a core service -- and at times the only or primary way for the public to obtain reading materials, questions from librarians to the technology consultant increased substantially. In response, the technology consultant created online librarian tutorials for a variety of commonly asked questions, particularly pertaining to patron support, as well as screencast videos for librarian training that were also shared with patrons. She also provided six webinars to 32 librarians on the digital marketplace, worked closely with 41 librarians to analyze their digital patron holds to determine the need for additional Advantage copies. Additionally, the technology consultant answered dozens of email and telephone questions each week pertaining to patron assistance, authentication, ordering, and much more.
Do you anticipate continuing this project after the current reporting period ends:
Yes
Do you anticipate any change in level of effort in managing this project:
No
Explain:
Do you anticipate changing the types of activities and objectives addressed by the project:
No
Explain:
Was an evaluation conducted for this project:
No
Was a final written evaluation report produced:
No
Can the final written evaluation report be shared publicly on the IMLS website:
No
Was the evaluation conducted by project staff (either SLAA or local library) or by a third-party evaluator:
Third-Party
What data collection tools were used for any report outcomes and outputs:
Did you collect any media for the data:
What types of methods were used to analyze collected data:
Other:
How were participants (or items) selected:
What type of research design did you use to compare the value for any reported output or outcome:
