圖書館正在應對大流行期間對圖書和服務的新需求

圖書館正在應對大流行期間對圖書和服務的新需求

If you find yourself scrambling for a good novel to escape the novel coronavirus, you're not alone. Across the country, libraries have seen demand skyrocket for their electronic offerings, but librarians say they continue to worry about the digital divide and equality in access — not to mention the complicated questions that must be answered before they can reopen for physical lending.

如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在為躲避新型冠狀病毒而苦苦尋找一本好的小說，你并不孤單。全國各地的圖書館都看到了對他們的電子產(chǎn)品的需求激增，但是圖書館員說他們仍然擔心數(shù)字鴻溝和平等獲取——更不用說在他們重新開放實體借閱之前必須回答的復雜問題了。

"Since the library closed on March 16, we've had about seven thousand people register for library cards," says Richard Reyes-Gavilan, Executive Director for the District of Columbia Public Libraries. "We've had over 300,000 books borrowed since mid-March, which is astounding considering that our collections are limited."

哥倫比亞特區(qū)公共圖書館的執(zhí)行主任理查德·雷耶斯-加維蘭說:“自從圖書館3月16日關閉以來，我們已經(jīng)有大約7000人登記辦理借書證。”“自3月中旬以來，我們已經(jīng)借出了30多萬本書，考慮到我們的館藏有限，這令人震驚。”

By the library's accounting, that's 37% higher than the same period in 2019: Weekly library e-book lending across the country has increased by nearly 50 percent since March 9, according to data from OverDrive, a service used by many libraries to let patrons check out media for e-readers.

據(jù)該圖書館統(tǒng)計，這比2019年同期增長了37%:根據(jù)OverDrive的數(shù)據(jù)，自3月9日以來，全國圖書館每周的電子書借閱量增長了近50%。OverDrive是一項服務，很多圖書館都使用它來讓讀者為電子閱讀器查看媒體。

Audiobook check-outs are also up 14% — not quite as large a shift, likely because fewer people are in their cars commuting to work.

有聲讀物的銷量也上升了14%——這并不是一個很大的轉變，可能是因為開車上班的人變少了。

Nationally, there's been a jump in titles checked out virtually across topics, but demand for children's e-books has more than doubled during this period.

在全國范圍內，各個主題的圖書借閱量都在猛增，但同期對兒童電子書的需求增加了一倍多。

By comparison, e-book checkouts for adult fiction across the U.S. have grown by more than a third, and young adult fiction by more than 50 percent. There have been more checkouts of children's books than adult nonfiction on weekdays since the week of March 22.

相比之下，美國成人小說的電子書借閱量增長了三分之一以上，青年小說增長了50%以上。自3月22日起，平日里兒童讀物的借出量超過了成人非小說類書籍。

Library categorization is notoriously messy, but OverDrive's rankings of the top national checkouts by genre (using the industry's standard BISAC codes) indicate that readers aren't radically shifting their tastes. The top categories have remained remarkably stable through 2020, led by thrillers, romance, "women sleuths," and literary fiction.

圖書館分類是出了名的亂七八糟的，但OverDrive按類別(使用行業(yè)標準的BISAC代碼)對全國排名前幾位的圖書進行了排名，表明讀者并沒有從根本上改變他們的口味。到2020年，排名靠前的幾大類一直保持穩(wěn)定，以驚悚片、浪漫小說、“女偵探”和文學小說為首。

Libraries have also reacted to the closures by transitioning events to virtual spaces. DC's libraries added a chat service allowing readers to ask a librarian questions over the phone or the web. It also launched its "one city, one book" program online by offering free digital access to Elizabeth Acevedo's With the Fire On High.

圖書館也通過將事件轉移到虛擬空間來應對關閉。華盛頓特區(qū)的圖書館增加了一項聊天服務，允許讀者通過電話或網(wǎng)絡向圖書管理員提問。該公司還在網(wǎng)上推出了“一座城市，一本書”項目，免費提供伊麗莎白•阿塞韋多的《火焰在高處》一書的數(shù)字下載。