North Central Washington residents checked out, downloaded and streamed more than 1.4 million books, movies, and other materials from NCW Libraries in 2023.
That number nearly doubles the 710,395 total checkouts from 2022, when the library district was still emerging from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s exciting to see that library use has rebounded so strongly in 2023,” said Summer Hayes, Associate Director of Programs and Resources for NCW Libraries. “It’s clear that, despite the disruptions to daily routines that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic, the library continues to be a highly valued resource for our diverse communities.
Here’s a look at what NCW Libraries’ patrons read, watched and listened to most last year:
Top Checkouts
Fiction Book: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Nonfiction Book: A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan
Memoir: Spare by Prince Harry
Audiobook: Nothing to Lose by J.A. Jance
Ebook: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Young Adult Book: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
Children’s Book: Dogman: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey
DVD: Top Gun: Maverick
Music CD: The Greatest Showman (movie soundtrack)
2023 by the Numbers
Total checkouts (physical and digital): 1,414,859
Physical Books: 587,559
Digital Materials: 490,883
Audiobooks: 11,945
DVDs: 200,190
Music CDs: 5,174
Mail Order packages: 35,525
Visitors to libraries: 652,021
New Library Cards issues: 9,483
Library of Things: 2,297
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