38 million Loans Proves Australian and New Zealand Readers Favour Books by Local Authors

Australian novels the most popular choices amongst readers in Civica’s 2020 Libraries Index

To celebrate Library and Information Week, Civica, in partnership with the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), is launching the Civica Libraries Index; a comprehensive list of Australia and New Zealand’s most borrowed library books. And the findings are fascinating!

Readers are increasingly opting for Australian authors and homegrown stories, with Civica’s 2020 Libraries Index revealing Australian authors made up more than half (60 per cent) of the top 20 borrowed books across ANZ. This is up from 2019 when Aussie writers made up just 40 per cent of the top 20 most borrowed books, according to the Index.

Topping this year’s list of most borrowed books is Australian Liane Moriarty’s best-selling novel and soon-to-be television series, Nine Perfect Strangers. More readers are also borrowing e-resources from libraries, including audio books and e-books, following forced closure of libraries during COVID-19.

The most popular audio books borrowed from libraries were non-fiction, with Michelle Obama’s, Becoming, taking out the top spot. This was followed by Scott Pape’s best-selling financial help guide, The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need and then Mark Manson’s, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a ****: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life.

The 2020 Civica Libraries Index was compiled by analysing more than 38 million loans across 90 Australian and New Zealand libraries.