The Ministry of Culture conducted a flash survey on March 25 and 26 to find out the impact of the health crisis and the containment on the digital resources of the libraries of local authorities. The libraries that responded are spread across the whole French territory. The analysis is based on the responses of 531 libraries offering digital resources.
"Following the closure of the libraries to the public, the teams have adapted and organized themselves to set up new ways of accessing their digital resources and thus continue to accompany their users, many of whom are confined to their homes, from a distance.Increase in registrationsAccording to the survey, libraries saw an increase in enrollment requests between the start of lockdown and the end of March.
While nearly one out of two libraries is affected by this increase, it mainly affects departmental libraries, which are 79% to observe an increase in registrations to their online offer, compared to 38% for municipal and inter-municipal libraries. 61% of departmental libraries have even seen a strong increase in registrations (compared to only 19% of municipal libraries).
36% of libraries are implementing or will be implementing new registration procedures in the near future to meet public demand for access to online digital resources during lockdown. This figure rises to 56% for libraries that have seen an increase in registration requests.
Increased use of digital resourcesAmong the libraries offering their own or mixed resources, 68% have seen an increase in usage for all or part of their digital resources since the beginning of the lockdown. One departmental library even mentions "a record week" in terms of digital practices, referring to the week of March 16 to 22.
Distance users have turned mainly to self-study resources (primarily academic support, personal development and sports). These " have doubled or even tripled for many libraries" . Next come VOD offers and digital books (via the digital loan in libraries PNB).
The survey highlights many problems of use concerning the PNB. "Indeed, the user path to borrow a digital book is particularly complex. Several libraries strongly regret the use of a DRM that forces users to create an Adobe account, while the problems related to this DRM seem to multiply. Libraries are struggling to find solutions and need to be fully available to their users when they have not already given up. In times of lockdown, supporting users is even more difficult because it must necessarily be done remotely."
New offers, new servicesIn addition to promoting their online resources on their portals and social networks, many institutions have launched new initiatives "such as setting up a web radio, a literary column on social networks, selections of favorites..."
Libraries have begun to provide remote support to users who are having difficulty with digital resources. Several libraries report having created video tutorials for using digital resources or for online registration.
However, 23% of libraries indicate that the implementation of telework for library professionals has led to "organizational difficulties, particularly in terms of supporting users from a distance, and has revealed the need to increase the skills of the teams".
According to the authors of the study, the measures taken by libraries to accompany the rise in the use of digital resources constitute an " important step for the development of digital uses among the public but also among library teams".
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