18th May 2021
Australian and New Zealand readers’ love for escapist fiction in this year’s Civica Libraries Index
- Australian authors top the list for avid book lovers during the pandemic
- Digital technologies critical to satisfying readers’ thirst for thrillers during lockdown
- E-loans and other digital solutions set to become a permanent feature of our post-pandemic library experience
Sydney, 18 May 2021: Australians sought escapist fiction to get through major lockdowns and restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, with almost half of this year’s top 20 most borrowed books listed as mysteries and thrillers in Civica’s 2021 Libraries Index.
The Index, now in its sixth year, assessed borrowing data from 34 million loans across 104 regional and metropolitan libraries in Australia and New Zealand between 1st April 2020 – 31st March 2021. Civica, provider of the cloud-based Spydus library management system to schools, TAFEs and local government, partnered with the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) to create the Civica Libraries Index.
At the top of this year’s list is Jane Harper’s, The Survivors, which depicts the story of a man whose life changed forever on a single day when a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences. Jane Harper’s suspenseful thriller, The Lost Man, also features on this year’s most borrowed books and depicts a story about family secrets, suspicion and death.
Michael Robotham’s popular crime novels When She Was Good, a psychological thriller about a murder dressed as suicide, and Good Girl Bad Girl, a story about a forensic psychologist caught between two cases, both featured in the top 20.
Australian authors popular with readers
This year’s index reveals Australian authors continue to rise in popularity with almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of the top 20 borrowed books authored by Australians. This is up from 60 per cent in 2020 and 40 per cent in 2019.
Notable Australian authors recognised include Trent Dalton’s bestselling novel Boy Swallows The Universe featured alongside his most recent novel, All Our Shimmering Skies, which tells the story of adventure and unlikely friendships in World War II Australia. Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers, a story about uncovering the secrets of a group of people, was also recognised again as one of the most popular books.
Australian biographies continued to be popular amongst readers with Leigh Sales’ Any Ordinary Day, Eddie Jaku’s The Happiest Man on Earth, Malcolm Turnbull’s A Bigger Picture and Behrouz Boochani’s No Friend But The Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison recognised in the top 10 biographies.
Australian authors also dominated the most popular picture books with Lucinda Gifford’s Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas topping the list followed by Matt Cosgrove’s Alpacas with Maracas, Aaron Blabey’s Pig the Pug Series and the Bluey Series from the ABC.
Sue McKerracher, Chief Executive Officer, ALIA, says, “It’s fantastic to see such a strong representation of Australian authors again in this year’s Civica Libraries Index. We have such diverse and talented writers and their stories are reflected across a number of different categories from fiction, non-fiction, biographies and picture books.
“While local book awards have played an important part in the prominence of many of these authors, it’s also driven in part through campaigns like Australia Reads which encourages people to pick up and read a book. ALIA’s National Simultaneous Storytime, another campaign we run in which a picture book is simultaneously read in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, homes and bookshops around the country seeks to encourage reading amongst children. This year’s reading comes from the International Space Station and will be beamed to more than 1.5 million children and families in Australia, New Zealand and countries around the world.”
A rise in e-loans
While libraries were forced close for part of last year, research released for the COVID-19 Audience Outlook Monitor shows 86 per cent of Australians read for pleasure. This was reflected in citizen borrowing patterns for physical books and also through the uptick in e-loans from April 2020 to March 2021.
Iain Finlayson, Managing Director of Libraries and Education Solutions at Civica says, “Libraries played an important role throughout lockdowns last year as a rich source of much needed escapism. While many people continued to borrow physical books, we also saw an uptick in the number of e-loans. A key enabler of this trend is access to digital platforms that provide online access for citizens to a broad range of titles.”
Ipswich Libraries based in Queensland, that houses almost half a million titles, saw an 80 per cent increase in e-audio downloads, 67 per cent increase in e-books and a 120 per cent increase in e-magazine downloads.
ACT Libraries, that supports two million visitors each year to its nine branches, saw a 35 per cent increase of e-books and e-audio loans. Similarly, Yarra Plenty Regional Library in Melbourne saw a combined e-audio and e-book increase of 45 per cent.
Hutt City Libraries in New Zealand, that compromises of eight libraries, saw e-audio loans increase by 40 per cent and e-book loans increase by 41 per cent for the same time period.
“We should expect this trend to continue to be part of citizen borrowing patterns moving forward and it will be important for libraries to continue to have a digital presence to meet citizen’s evolving expectations” Finlayson adds.
The 2021 Civica Libraries Index was compiled by analysing loans from libraries across Australia and New Zealand libraries that use Civica’s Spydus between 1st April 2020 – 31st March 2021. Spydus is a cloud-based software system developed in Australia that enables more than 2,500 libraries around the world to meet the dynamic needs of today’s library members with the latest digital technologies.
ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION ASSOCIATION
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) is the professional organisation for the Australian library and information services sector. With 5,000 members across Australia, we provide the national voice of the profession in the development, promotion and delivery of quality library and information services, through leadership, advocacy and mutual support. www.alia.org.au
Index highlights
Index highlights
Most borrowed
Australian and New Zealand readers have an appetite for mystery and thriller novels which dominated the most borrowed books. Jane Harper’s The Survivors ranked first, Lee Child’s Blue Moon ranked third and Dervla McTiernan’s The Good Turn ranked fourth.
Biography
Political-related biographies ranked favourably amongst readers with Michelle Obama’s Becoming ranked first. This was followed by Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man. Malcolm Turnbull’s A Bigger Picture ranked seventh and Barack Obama’s A Promised Land ranked tenth.
Non-fiction
Self-help books resonated with readers with Julia Baird’s Phosphorescence, an investigation into how we can find and nurture within ourselves ranking second. Scott Pape’s financial guides The Barefoot Investor Series was recognised again as some most popular non-fiction books. Michael Mosley’s Fast Asleep: How To Get A Really Good Night's Rest rounded out the top ten.
ABOUT THE CIVICA LIBRARIES 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 01 Apr 2019 and 31 Mar 2020. 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 of 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 | Becoming (2018) | Michelle Obama |
| 3 | Blue moon (2019) | Lee Child |
| 4 | The good turn (2020) | Dervla McTiernan |
| 5 | The lost man (2018) | Jane Harper |
| 6 | When she was good (2020) | Michael Robotham |
| 7 | The scent keeper (2019) | Erica Bauermeister |
| 8 | Diary of a wimpy kid. Wrecking ball (2019) | Jeff Kinney |
| 9 | The 117 -storey treehouse (2019) | Andy Griffiths |
| 10 | Fair warning (2020) | Michael Connelly |
| 11 | Good girl bad girl (2019) | Michael Robotham |
| 12 | Vote WeirDo (2020) | Anh Do |
| 13 | Boy swallows universe (2018) | Trent Dalton |
| 14 | A room made of leaves: a novel (2020) | Kate Grenville |
| 15 | Art time! (2020) | Anh Do |
| 16 | Nine perfect strangers (2018) | Liane Moriarty |
| 17 | Too much and never enough: how my family created the world's most dangerous man (2020) | Mary Trump |
| 18 | The weekend (2019) | Charlotte Wood |
| 19 | All our shimmering skies (2020) | Trent Dalton |
| 20 | Weirdomania! (2019) | Anh Do |
Fiction - Adult
| 1 | The survivors (2020) | Jane Harper |
| 2 | Blue moon (2019) | Lee Child |
| 3 | The good turn (2020) | Dervla McTiernan |
| 4 | The lost man (2018) | Jane Harper |
| 5 | Fair warning (2020) | Michael Connelly |
| 6 | The night fire (2019) | Michael Connelly |
| 7 | Walk the wire (2020) | David Baldacci |
| 8 | The scent keeper (2019) | Erica Bauermeister |
| 9 | Where the crawdads sing (2019) | Delia Owens |
| 10 | The boy from the woods (2020) | Harlan Coben |
Non-fiction
| 1 | Becoming (2018) | Michelle Obama |
| 2 | Phosphorescence: on awe, wonder & things that sustain you when the world goes dark (2020) | Julia Baird |
| 3 | Dark emu (2018) | Bruce Pascoe |
| 4 | The barefoot investor: the only money guide you’ll ever need (2017) | Scott Pape |
| 5 | Too much and never enough: how my family created the world's most dangerous man (2020) | Mary Trump |
| 6 | The fast 800: how to combine rapid weight loss and intermittent fasting for long-term health (2019) | Michael Mosley |
| 7 | The barefoot investor for families: the only kids' money guide you'll ever need (2018) | Scott Pape |
| 8 | Any ordinary day (2018) | Leigh Sales |
| 9 | Educated (2018) | Tara Westover |
| 10 | Fast asleep: how to get a really good night's rest (2020) | Michael Mosley |
Australian
| 1 | The survivors (2020) | Jane Harper |
| 2 | The good turn (2020) | Dervla McTiernan |
| 3 | The lost man (2018) | Jane Harper |
| 4 | When she was good (2020) | Michael Robotham |
| 5 | Good girl bad girl (2019) | Michael Robotham |
| 6 | Nine perfect strangers (2018) | Liane Moriarty |
| 7 | Boy swallows universe (2018) | Trent Dalton |
| 8 | A room made of leaves: a novel (2020) | Kate Grenville |
| 9 | All our shimmering skies (2020) | Trent Dalton |
| 10 | The weekend (2019) | Charlotte Wood |
Biography
| 1 | Becoming (2018) | Michelle Obama |
| 2 | Too much and never enough: how my family created the world's most dangerous man (2020) | Mary Trump |
| 3 | Educated (2018) | Tara Westover |
| 4 | Any ordinary day (2018) | Leigh Sales |
| 5 | The happiest man on Earth (2020) | Eddie Jaku |
| 6 | Untamed (2020) | Glennon Doyle |
| 7 | A bigger picture (2020) | Malcolm Turnbull |
| 8 | Your own kind of girl: a memoir (2019) | Clare Bowditch |
| 9 | No friend but the mountains: writing from Manus prison (2018) | Behrouz Boochani |
| 10 | A promised land (2020) | Barack Obama |
Picture Book
| 1 | Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas (2019) | Lucinda Gifford |
| 2 | Unicorn magic (2019) | Tori Kosara |
| 3 | Waddle giggle gargle! (1996) | Pamela Allen |
| 4 | Alpacas with maracas (2018) | Matt Cosgrove |
| 5 | Bluey: the Creek (2020) | |
| 6 | Pig the star (2017) | Aaron Blabey |
| 7 | Pig the tourist (2019) | Aaron Blabey |
| 8 | The return of Thelma the unicorn (2019) | Aaron Blabey |
| 9 | Bluey: Bob Bilby (2020) | |
| 10 | Pig the grub (2018) | Aaron Blabey |
Fiction - Children
| 1 | The scent keeper (2019) | Erica Bauermeister |
| 2 | Diary of a wimpy kid. Wrecking ball (2019) | Jeff Kinney |
| 3 | Vote WeirDo (2020) | Anh Do |
| 4 | Weirdomania! (2019) | Anh Do |
| 5 | The 117 -storey treehouse (2019) | Andy Griffiths |
| 6 | Dog Man: Fetch-22 (2019) | Dav Pilkey |
| 7 | Diary of a wimpy kid: the meltdown (2018) | Jeff Kinney |
| 8 | Diary of an awesome friendly kid: Rowley Jefferson's journal (2019) | Jeff Kinney |
| 9 | The 91-storey treehouse (2017) | Andy Griffiths |
| 10 | Ninja clones! (2020) | Anh Do |
Fiction – Young Adult
| 1 | Robin Hood: piracy, paintballs & zebras (2020) | Robert Muchamore |
| 2 | One of us is next (2020) | Karen McManus |
| 3 | Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets (1998) | J.K. Rowling |
| 4 | Wonder (2013) | R. J. Palacia |
| 5 | Catching fire (2009) | Suzanne Collins |
| 6 | We were liars (2014) | E. Lockhart |
| 7 | Five feet apart (2018) | Rachael Lippincott |
| 8 | The hate u give (2017) | Angie Thomas |
| 9 | Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (2010) | J. K. Rowling |
| 10 | The tattooist of Auschwitz (2018) | Heather Morris |
eAudio
| 1 | The lost man (2018) | Jane Harper |
| 2 | Bruny (2019) | Heather Rose |
| 3 | The good turn (2020) | Dervla McTiernan |
| 4 | Phosphorescence: on awe, wonder & things that sustain you when the world goes dark (2020) | Julia Baird |
| 5 | Suitcase of dreams (2018) | Tania Blanchard |
| 6 | See what you made me do: power, control and domestic abuse (2019) | Jess Hill |
| 7 | Boy swallows universe (2019) | Trent Dalton |
| 8 | The round yard [text] (2019) | Alissa Callen |
| 9 | The barefoot investor: the only money guide you'll ever need (2017) | Scott Pape |
| 10 | The cake maker's wish (2020) | Josephine Moon |
eBook
| 1 | Blue moon (2019) | Lee Child |
| 2 | The survivors (2020) | Jane Harper |
| 3 | Fair warning (2020) | Michael Connelly |
| 4 | The good turn (2020) | Dervla McTiernan |
| 5 | The lost man (2018) | Jane Harper |
| 6 | The night fire (2019) | Connelly, Michael |
| 7 | Walk the wire (2020) | David Baldacci |
| 8 | The scent keeper (2019) | Bauermeister, Erica |
| 9 | Where the crawdads sing (2019) | Delia Owens |
| 10 | The boy from the woods (2020) | Harlan Coben |