LIBRARY loans of e-books are soaring as more titles are released.

Library members in North Yorkshire now have access to some 7,500 e-books which can be downloaded to electronic readers.

And as on-line borrowing grows increasingly popular the county council has just added a further 200 titles to their digital catalogue.

So far this financial year, the county’s library service has issued 38,000 digital loans, and January saw a record number of e-books issued – 4,400.

That compares with 321 issues in November 2010 - the first month in which e-books were available from North Yorkshire’s library service.

More publishers are making titles available to libraries digitally and the most recent purchase comes after publisher Faber and Faber signed up to public library use of their e-books.

The 200 Faber books bought by North Yorkshire so far include 125 adult fiction titles, 45 junior and young adult titles and 30 adult non-fiction titles.

County councillor Chris Metcalfe said: “I’m delighted that our library service is able to continue to expand the books available through its online services.

“As well as being the preferred choice of some readers, e-books bring library books into the homes of people who may not be able to visit a branch and make library services available at any hour of the day, every day.”