More than 1,500 eBooks and eAudiobooks have been borrowed from Surrey Libraries new eBooks service in the first month.

The high demand has seen Surrey increase their virtual library from more than 400 titles to almost 800.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson are the two most requested eBooks so far with Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight currently the most popular eAudiobook.

Surrey’s success follows Amazon’s announcement that it had sold nearly two eBooks for every one hardback book in the past month.*

Surrey County Council Cabinet Member for Community Services Denise Saliagopoulos said: “I’m delighted the service has been so popular already. It’s incredible to think that these books can be borrowed at the touch of a button anywhere in the world, from a sofa in Surrey to a beach in Barbados.”

As part of the launch, Eagle Radio ran a competition to win a Sony eReader. The prize was won by Mary Hughes, from Guildford, who was presented with the eReader by Eagle Radio presenter Kim Robson and county councillor Denise Saliagopoulos at Guildford Library on Wednesday (4 August).

Mary said: “I’m very happy to have won. I had already downloaded a couple of ebooks from the library so I look forward to using the prize to read some more. I'm going to take it on holiday with me instead of a pile of books.”

The library of eBooks and eAudiobooks are available to borrow from www.surreycc.gov.uk/elibrary.