Despite the availability of online books, movies and music, Orange City Library lent out 170,250 physical items in 2018.
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The most popular books borrowed in 2018 were crime or suspense fiction with Lee Child’s No Middle Name and James Patterson’s The Black Book topping the list with Australian author Michael Robotham’s Close Your Eyes not far behind.
Romance favourites included three titles by Nora Roberts, Western Skies, The Liar and The Plan.
I love to have a hard copy of a book where I can flick back and forward quite readily,
- Councillor Stephen Nugent
Other books that were frequently borrowed included The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape, Fast Food for Busy Families by Pete Evans, The Australian Women’s Weekly Sugar Free for Everyone.
Popular magazine titles that were borrowed were Australian Country Style, Roam and Australian House and Garden.
Orange City Council’s Services Policy committee chairman Stephen Nugent said a lot of people and himself included enjoyed having an actual book to read from.
“I love to have a hard copy of a book where I can flick back and forward quite readily,” Mr Nugent said.
“I don’t think that’s just older people.”
Cr Nugent said cost was also a factor, he said the library’s resources were free and not everyone could afford to have the internet connected such as low-income workers or pensioners.
He said DVDs were also popular items that were borrowed last year and some people also continued to borrow CDs.
According to the library’s figures, members borrowed 6968 talking books and 23,283 DVDs.
“Now that we don’t have [DVD rental] stores in Orange the library is the only place you can go,” Cr Nugent said.
He said his family also borrowed talking books to listen to while driving to Queensland in the Christmas holidays.
Top picks among DVDs were suspense films, children borrowed the Wimpy Kids books and DVDs while older children preferred graphic novels.
In 2018 the library also signed up 1652 new members.
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Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
