The head of Wollongong's library network has praised the teams of workers for their innovation and willingness to muck in and get books to readers anyway they could during the lockdowns.
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And they had felt the love in return, Wollongong City Council's manager of library and community services Jenny Thompson said.
"It really reflected ... how much our community loves to engage with libraries, which we kind of knew, but also how much our libraries team loves to engage with the community," she said.
"They were so keen to think about ways we could continue to deliver services. They were so aware of how many people missed being able to get their regular books ... the resilience and the innovativeness of our team was something I thought was a big part of our adaptation."
With people not allowed to physically visit the libraries, books were instead mailed to them, delivered online, or delivered in person. And those who experienced it know the joy of knock at the door revealing a brown paper bag of books on the step and a smiling face heading out the driveway.
"It was like a production line in terms of people ringing in, or reserving their books online ... then there was a big line of tables, picking the books from the shelves and then packing them, then we had some families who had large numbers of children so by the time everyone had put their order in that's quite a few books to be posting. So some staff said 'alright, put them in a box and I'll drop them off on the way home'."
The home delivery system in place for people who are unable to attend libraries was expanded to help include the home deliveries, while online programs were delivered including a guided stargazing exercise and the game Dungeons & Dragons, which will remain in place and has a waiting list of people keen to join.
Ms Thompson said from June to October Wollongong libraries mailed out 9,111 items and delivered 2,403, on top of the usual home library deliveries.
"We just really felt the love from people ... and that enthusiasm to hook up with us," she said. "We got some wonderful comments ... someone said her husband hadn't borrowed a book in 15 years but now he can order it online he has become an avid reader again."
The most popular book among borrowers was Australian author Jane Harper's newest thriller The Survivors. It was physically loaned 414 times, downloaded 439 times as an eBook and was listened to 398 times as an eAudio - more than 1,251 reads in all formats.
Well-known authors Lee Child, Trent Dalton and Michael Connelly made the list as well as newcomer Delia Owens with her debut novel Where the crawdads sing.
Prolific northern suburbs resident Anh Do secured not only the top spot for the most loaned book for Junior Fiction, but also the proceeding nine spots as well.
"The Pig the Pug series by Aaron Blabey is undeniably the most popular children's picture book to read, with four making the Children's Picture Book list including the first and second spots," Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said.
The magic of Hogwarts in J.K Rowling's Harry Potter series and Suzanne Collins' dystopian world in Hunger Games, have proved to stand the test of time making the loans list for another year.
Australian authors continue to lead the lists with Julia Baird's Phosphorescence: on awe, wonder & things that sustain you when the world goes dark , the top loaned Non-Fiction title and Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture by Bruce Pascoe coming in second. Both Barack and Michelle Obama's each respective autobiographies also made the list.
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