Stack of books (Where the Crawdads Sing, The Guardians, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Walk the Wire) on a white table. Text with an arrow is next to the stack. It says, "Most circulated books of 2020."
Wednesday, January 13, 2021

The librarians have tallied the numbers and the results are in! For the second year in a row, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was the most circulated item in the Ouachita Parish Public Library system.

How did we count the books? - Because our patrons read books in different ways, we made sure to count all borrows in all formats. This means we counted all check outs for a title in print, large print, book-on-CD, and e-book and e-audiobook on both the cloudLibrary and Hoopla apps.

How did the pandemic affect borrows? - While our data indicates that most Ouachita Parish Public Library patrons still prefer to read print books, we saw a record number of borrows in the cloudLibrary and Hoopla apps in 2020. This follows the national trend in libraries that a growing number of people are reading e-books. Digital borrows exploded during the lockdown because even though our buildings were closed to the public, e-books were still available for reading. When our doors opened again, we saw a predictable, slight dip in digital borrows. However, the number of patrons who borrow e-books is still higher than what it was before the pandemic. From the beginning to the end of the lockdown, the Library system saw a 28 percent increase in patrons who borrowed digital content like e-books, e-audiobooks and more.

Below are the most circulating items of 2020. Click the links below the titles to read them yourself!

Top Circulating Items

  1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  2. Frozen II
  3. The Guardians by John Grisham
  4. Avengers: Endgame
  5. The Lion King (2019)
  6. Aladdin (2019)
  7. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
  8. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
  9. Walk the Wire by David Baldacci
  10. Jumanji: The Next Level

Top Books

  1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  2. The Guardians by John Grisham
  3. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
  4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
  5. Walk the Wire by David Baldacci

Adult Fiction

  1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
  2. The Guardians by John Grisham
  3. Walk the Wire by David Baldacci
  4. Camino Winds by John Grisham
  5. Hideaway by Nora Roberts

Adult Nonfiction

  1. Becoming by Michelle Obama
  2. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
  3. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
  4. Untamed by Glennon Doyle
  5. The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier by Ree Drummond

DVDs

  1. Frozen II
  2. Avengers: Endgame
  3. The Lion King (2019)
  4. Aladdin (2019)
  5. Jumanji: The Next Level

Young Adult and Juvenile Fiction

  1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
  2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
  3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney
  4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
  5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown by Jeff Kinney

Picture Books

  1. Pete the Cat and the Perfect Pizza Party by Kim and James Dean
  2. The Pigeon Needs a Bath! by Mo Willems
  3. The Pigeon Has to Go to School! by Mo Willems
  4. Pete the Cat’s Groovy Guide to Kindness by Kim and James Dean
  5. Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes by Kim and James Dean