Overdrive - the digital marketplace for publishers and libraries, and the creator of Libby - was (and still is) clunky, slow and unintuitive. Not many people even knew their libraries offered digital books. In 2016, just over a quarter of Americans had read an e-book within the previous year, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
Public librarians depend on Libby, but they also worry that its newfound popularity could seriously strain their budgets.īefore 2017, e-books were still pretty niche, and checking out library e-books was torture.
A user-friendly reading app becomes popular during the pandemic, making books cool again for young readers, multiplying e-book circulation and saving public libraries from sudden obsolescence.īut the Libby story is also a parable for how the best-intentioned people can build a beloved technological tool and accidentally create a financial crisis for those who need the tech most. On the surface, there couldn't be a more wholesome story than the meteoric rise of the Libby app.
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