by Beth Staats
Quick Summary
On February 28th of this year Ebooks Minnesota will be celebrating its 5th year as a Minitex program, thanks in part to MDE and State Library Services. What began as a pilot program in 2016 with just over 3,500 titles, has grown in scope and content to a whopping 11,000+ books. The best part is that it continues to grow.
On February 28th of this year Ebooks Minnesota will be celebrating its 5th year as a Minitex program, thanks in part to MDE and State Library Services. What began as a pilot project in 2016 with just over 3,500 titles, has grown in scope and content to a whopping 11,000+ books. The best part is that it continues to grow.
To celebrate its birthday I thought I would share some fun information about how Minnesotans interact with Ebooks Minnesota. To start, here are the 20 most popular search terms over the past 5 years:
1) A Good Time for the Truth (this book was part of the One Book | One Minnesota program)
2) dogs
3) animal invaders
4) football
5) graphic novels
6) Time for Kids
7) Harry Potter
8) avatar
9) scary
10) sports
11) cats
12) animals
13) Because of Winn-Dixie (this book was part of the One Book | One Minnesota program)
14) comics
15) weather
16) horror
17) hockey
18) seedlings
19) soccer
20) Minnesota
The large majority of users are accessing Ebooks Minnesota on a laptop or desktop computer. A smaller percentage are accessing the collection via a tablet, and the smallest group of users are accessing it via a mobile device. As far as areas of the state go, residents of Minneapolis are the most frequent users, with St. Paul, Rochester, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, and Brooklyn Park following.
So what are people reading in Ebooks Minnesota? As the Ebooks Minnesota platform hosts the titles for One Book | One Minnesota, it makes sense that they top the list. Spanning the entire 5-year period in which Ebooks Minnesota has been available here are the 20 most read books in the collection:
1) A Good Time for the Truth
2) Because of Winn-Dixie
3) The Plague of Doves
4) Avatar, the Last Airbender (series)
5) Adapted to Survive (series)
6) Northeast
7) 1918 Flu Pandemic
8) I.Q. (series)
9) West
10) A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota: Reading Guide (available via MHS now)
11) Southwest
12) The 12 Days of Christmas
13) The Latehomecomer
14) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
15) 23 Crow's Perch
16) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
17) Aaron Rodgers
18) Achilles
19) The Bohemian Flats
20) Ariana Grande
Ebooks Minnesota has grown substantially over these past 5 years. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to its promotion and use whether from school, work, or home. Happy Birthday Ebooks Minnesota!
