The Impact of COVID-19 on the Book Reading, Borrowing, and Buying in Canada, New Survey Findings From BookNet Canada

From BookNet Canada:

COVID-19 is undoubtedly what’s on everyone’s mind lately. And if you’re reading this blog, at least one of the questions you’re asking yourself about it is: What is its impact on book reading, borrowing, and buying in Canada?

BookNet Canada staff was wondering the same thing and developed a short survey that was fielded from March 30 through April 9, 2020 to 748 Canadians. We asked whether they have read or listened to at least one book (of any format) in the past month; 450 out of 748 respondents said that they had. We found that eight in ten Canadians read or listened to 1-5 books last month. About one in ten read or listened to 6-11 books. Only 5% read or listened to 12 or more books. 

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Where are readers getting their books now? Most of them are using online retailers or apps (43%). After that, popular places include free internet sites (32%), from other people (28%), and the digital catalog of their public library (28%). Two in ten Canadian readers are getting books from a physical bookstore through in-store/curbside pickup or delivery. The majority of people are buying or borrowing from the same places they used before. Readers are also diving into their to-read piles: picking up the books they already owned but hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. 

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