Coronavirus: Record numbers using online library service during lockdown

Record numbers are using the Cambridgeshire online library service during the Covid-19 lockdown, the county council has said.
By Ben Hatton
Published 13th Apr 2020, 05:00 BST
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The digital library service includes ebooks, emagazines, eaudiobooks and enewspapers to download, all free of charge.

A library membership also offers free access to Ancestry and Find My Past as part of a limited time offer throughout the pandemic restrictions.

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With the vast majority of people not leaving the house for all but essentials, the council said “more people than ever before are accessing the online offerings and social media channels” of its library service.

Record numbers are using the Cambridgeshire online library service during the Covid-19 lockdown, the county council has said.Record numbers are using the Cambridgeshire online library service during the Covid-19 lockdown, the county council has said.
Record numbers are using the Cambridgeshire online library service during the Covid-19 lockdown, the county council has said.

The council said 39,000 people had reached out to its Facebook page in the last week alone – more than five times more than normal.

The chairman of the county council’s communities and partnership committee, Cllr Steve Criswell, said: “It’s great that so many of our residents are taking advantage of the excellent resources we have online.”

You can find out more information about the council’s online library service at cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/libraries-leisure-culture/libraries/library-news.

Ben Hatton, Local Democracy Reporting Service

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