24th July 2022
Australian authors out on top for a second year running in annual library borrowing data
- Books by Australian authors once again the most popular amongst library users
- E-loans continue to be popular following on from the pandemic
- Comprehensive annual library survey now enters seventh year
More than half the library books we borrowed in 2022 were penned by Australian authors, continuing an upward trend seen over the past three years. The past twelve months also saw a large increase in E-Loans, suggesting that digital library books, which increased in popularity during the pandemic will continue to be a permanent feature of our literary diet.
Today’s insights were published by global public sector software provider Civica, which partnered with the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) to create the annual Civica Libraries Index. Now in its seventh year, the Civica Libraries Index, assessed over 30 million pieces of borrowing data across regional and metropolitan libraries in Australia between April 2021 and March 2022.
Favourite reads
A firm favourite amongst library users for the second year in a row is Jane Harper’s, The Survivors, a novel which depicts the story of a man whose life changed forever on a single day when a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences. Coming in at second place was Liane Moriarty’s Apples Never Fall, a bestselling novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest.
Australian biographies also continue to be popular amongst readers with Eddie Jaku’s The Happiest Man on Earth and Trent Dalton’s Love Stories were in the top 5 biographies. Children’s authors were also amongst the favourites with authors Anh Do and Jeff Kinney appearing in the overall top 20.
E-loans on the rise
The rising popularity of E-Loans will be made easier by a suite of new e-vendor interfaces which will be included as part of the latest update to Spydus Integrated Library Management Solution, used by more than 1,500 libraries across Australia and around the world. E-vendor interfaces enable the automatic harvesting of bibliographic data into Spydus, the ability to reserve and loan third party e-resources from directly within Spydus, and validation from the vendor app back to Spydus.
Iain Finlayson,
Managing Director Library and Education
at Civica
Australian libraries are at the vanguard of digital transformation, as evidenced most recently by the surge in popularly of E-loans. Our libraries have not only kept pace with the rapidly changing expectations of the communities they serve; they’ve set an example for the world to follow. This is something that we, as a country, should be incredibly proud of.
As a company, we’re also proud of the role we’re playing in helping to drive that digital transformation. Spydus, a global solution pioneered here in Australia, is helping more than 1,500 libraries across Australia and around the world adapt and thrive in the digital age so they can continue to support and nurture the communities they serve.
Launching alongside ALIA’s Library and Information Week, ALIA and Civica are encouraging everyone to re-engage with the library’s collections, resources and services post pandemic, and to explore the possibilities of rewriting, renewing and reimagining stories of all kinds.
Cathie Warburton,
ALIA CEO,
ALIA
It is wonderful to see that Australian authors have once again proved so popular with borrowers. This is a testament to the quality of our writers and creators and to the Australian publishing industry’s commitment to fostering local talent. The rise in e-loans offers more good news. E-loans create access to books for a much broader and diverse range of people, help support literacy at all levels, and, most importantly, bring people back to the library – even in the virtual space.
About The Civica Library Index
The Civica Libraries Index is compiled in partnership with participating libraries using the market leading Civica Spydus integrated library management system. Loan data is collected, compiled, and analysed for the calendar year for a range of audiences and categories. Civica reviewed more than 30 million library book loans across Australia to help determine the country’s most popular books. Data was gathered over a 12-month period from between 1st April 2021 and 31st March 2022. All information on borrowing behaviours is collected anonymously. Civica is Australia’s leading provider of library information, collection, and management solutions.
Top 20
NB: The top 20 most borrowed books is a compilation of all the categories below (adult fiction, non-fiction, children fiction, biography, picture books and Australian).
As such, book rankings in each of the individual categories may differ from the overall rankings once the totals for each list are added.
| 1 | The survivors (2020) | Jane Harper |
| 2 | Apples never fall (2021) | Liane Moriarty |
| 3 | The sentinel (2020) | Lee Child |
| 4 | All our shimmering skies | Trent Dalton |
| 5 | The deep end (2020) | Jeff Kinney |
| 6 | Planet weird (2020) | Anh Do |
| 7 | Vote weirDo (2020) | Anh Do |
| 8 | The happiest man on earth (2020) | Eddie Jaku |
| 9 | Diary of a wimpy kid, wrecking ball (2019) | Jeff Kinney |
| 10 | Tasty weird! (2021) | Anh Do |
| 11 | The 130-storey treehouse (2020) | Andy Griffiths |
| 12 | A gambling man (2021) | David Baldacci |
| 13 | The getaway (2017) | Jeff Kinney |
| 14 | Rowley Jefferson’s awesome friendly adventure (2020) | Jeff Kinney |
| 15 | Better off dead | Andrew Child & Lee Child |
| 16 | The dictionary of lost words (2020) | Pip Williams |
| 17 | When you are mine (2021) | Michael Robotham |
| 18 | Dog Man. 10, Mothering heights (2021) | Dav Pilkey |
| 19 | Becoming | Michelle Obama |
| 20 | The lost man (2018) | Jane Harper |
Australian
| 1 | The survivors (2020) | Jane Harper |
| 2 | All our shimmering skies | Trent Dalton |
| 3 | Apples never fall (2021) | Liane Moriarty |
| 4 | Honeybee | Craig Silvey |
| 5 | Godmothers | Monica McInerney |
| 6 | Before the storm | Di Morrissey |
| 7 | Planet weird (2020) | Anh Do |
| 8 | The lost man (2018) | Jane Harper |
| 9 | Nine perfect strangers | Liane Moriarty |
| 10 | Boy swallows universe (2019) | Trent Dalton |
Biography
| 1 | The happiest man on Earth (2020) | Eddie Jaku |
| 2 | Becoming | Michelle Obama |
| 3 | Untamed (2020) | Glennon Doyle |
| 4 | Love Stories | Trent Dalton |
| 5 | A promised land (2020) | Barack Obama |
| 6 | Turns Out, I'm Fine, | Judith Lucy |
| 7 | Educated (2018) | Tara Westover |
| 8 | Greenlights (2020) | Matthew McConaughey |
| 9 | Emotional female (2021) | Yumiko Kadota |
| 10 | An Ordinary Day (2019) | Leigh Sales |
Civica had previously included Hamnet (2020) by Maggie O’Farrell incorrectly under the Biography list.
eAudio
| 1 | You Need to Know | Nicola Moriarty |
| 2 | The sentinel (2020) | Lee Child |
| 3 | Hunted | Gabriel Bergmoser |
| 4 | Personal | Lee Child |
| 5 | Without Fail | Lee Child |
| 6 | Make Me | Lee Child |
| 7 | The survivors (2020) | Jane Harper |
| 8 | Mystery Woman | Belinda Alexandra |
| 9 | Affair | Lee Child |
| 10 | EAll Our Shimmering Skies | Trent Dalton |
eBook
| 1 | Phosphorescence: on awe, wonder & things that sustain you when the world goes dark (2020) | Julia Baird |
| 2 | The bad guys. Episode 12, The one?! (2020) | Aaron Blabey |
| 3 | You Need to Know | Nicola Moriarty |
| 4 | The lost man (2018) | Jane Harper |
| 5 | Apples never fall (2021) | Liane Moriarty |
| 6 | The survivors (2020) | Jane Harper |
| 7 | Three Wishes | Liane Moriarty |
| 8 | A Gentleman in Moscow [electronic resource] (2019) | Amor Towles |
| 9 | Sorrow and Bliss | Meg Mason |
| 10 | Hunted | Gabriel Bergmoser |
Fiction - Adult
| 1 | The survivors (2020) | Jane Harper |
| 2 | The sentinel (2020) | Lee Child |
| 3 | A gambling man (2021) | David Baldacci |
| 4 | Better Off Dead (2021) | Andrew Child & Lee Child |
| 5 | The law of innocence (2020) | Michael Connelly |
| 6 | Blue Moon | Lee Child |
| 7 | Vote WeirDo (2020) | Anh Do |
| 8 | Win | Harlan Coben |
| 9 | Apples never fall (2021) | Liane Moriarty |
| 10 | Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens |
Fiction – Children
| 1 | Diary of a wimpy kid. Wrecking ball (2019) | Jeff Kinney |
| 2 | The deep end (2020) | Jeff Kinney |
| 3 | Vote WeirDo (2020) | Anh Do |
| 4 | The getaway (2017) | Jeff Kinney |
| 5 | Planet Weird (2020) | Anh Do |
| 6 | The 130-storey treehouse (2020) | Andy Griffiths |
| 7 | Rowley Jefferson's awesome friendly adventure (2020) | Jeff Kinney |
| 8 | Weirdomania! (2019) | Anh Do |
| 9 | Ten tremendous tales (2021) | Liz Pichon |
| 10 | Old School | Jeff Kinney |
Fiction – Young Adult
| 1 | The deep end (2020) | Jeff Kinney |
| 2 | Rowley Jefferson's awesome friendly adventure (2020) | Jeff Kinney |
| 3 | The getaway (2017) | Jeff Kinney |
| 4 | Big shot (2021) | Jeff Kinney |
| 5 | Diary of a wimpy kid. Wrecking ball (2019) | Jeff Kinney |
| 6 | Old School | Jeff Kinney |
| 7 | The 130-storey treehouse (2020) | Andy Griffiths |
| 8 | Slime | David Walliams |
| 9 | Cabin Fever | Jeff Kinney |
| 10 | Diary of a wimpy kid: Greg Heffley's journal (2008) | Jeff Kinney |
Non-Fiction: Total
| 1 | So you think you know what's good for you (2021) | Norman Swan |
| 2 | The barefoot investor: the only money guide you'll ever need (2020) | Scott Pape |
| 3 | The happiest man on Earth (2020) | Eddie Jaku |
| 4 | Phosphorescence: on awe, wonder & things that sustain you when the world goes dark (2020) | Julia Baird |
| 5 | The air fryer: your fave fried foods made healthy (2021) | The Australian Women’s Weekly |
| 6 | Untamed (2020) | Glennon Doyle |
| 7 | Becoming | Michelle Obama |
| 8 | The fast 800: how to combine rapid weight loss and intermittent fasting for long-term health (2019) | Michael Mosley |
| 9 | Turns Out, I'm Fine | Lucy Judith |
| 10 | The subtle art of not giving a f*ck: a counterintuitive approach to living a good life (2016) | Mark Manson |
Picture Books
| 1 | Bluey: the pool (2021) | Bluey |
| 2 | At home with the Heelers (2021) | Bluey |
| 3 | Bluey. Mum school (2021) | Bluey |
| 4 | Alpacas with maracas (2020) | Matt Cosgrove |
| 5 | Give me some space (2020) | Philip Bunting |
| 6 | Pig the tourist (2019) | Aaron Blabey |
| 7 | Macca the backpacker (2021) | Matt Cosgrove |
| 8 | Pig the star (2017) | Aaron Blabey |
| 9 | Pig the blob (2020) | Aaron Blabey |
| 10 | The return of Thelma the unicorn (2019) | Aaron Blabey |