NCW Libraries checkouts top 1.4 million in 2023

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 sent: 35,525

Visitors to libraries: 652,021

New Library Cards issues: 9,483

Library of Things checkouts: 2,297