The Bundaberg Region once again showed its love for local libraries with over 560, 000 loans of physical and digital items in 2025.
Membership increased to 24, 991 with 3147 new members recorded this year and an estimated 220,000 people made their way through the doors at Bundaberg, Gin Gin, Childers and Woodgate libraries.
Notable milestones for the year included the 25th anniversary of the Childers Library, the installation of new Radio Frequency Identification loan and return equipment and an upgrade to the digital management system.
Council’s Arts, Heritage and Asset Management portfolio spokesperson Councillor John Learmonth said there had been plenty of reasons for community to visit libraries this year.
“We have run a number of public programs throughout the year to ensure our libraries are spaces everyone can enjoy,” Cr Learmonth said.
“We had more than 11,000 people attend over 30 of these programs – from board games and digital support for seniors, to chess and coding for teens and regular First 5 Forever programs for younger children.
“We also hosted author talks and information displays and welcomed the JPs in the Community Service to the Bundaberg Library.
“There is plenty more to look forward to next year with more Fun and Games mornings, exciting author visits and a fortnightly trivia quiz, so make sure to plan a visit to your local library to find out more.”
Library loans: Top 10 books
Murder mysteries proved popular once again with Lee and Andrew Child’s In Too Deep the most loaned book across the region.
Here are the other most loaned books of 2025:
Bundaberg
1 Child, Lee and Andrew: The Secret
2 Child, Lee and Andrew: In Too Deep
3 Baldacci, David: A Calamity of Souls
4 Baldacci, David: The Edge
5 Child, Lee: Safe Enough
6 Connelly, Michael: The Waiting
7 Baldacci, David: Simply Lies
8 Baldacci, David: To Die For
9 Grisham, John: The Exchange
10 Connelly, Michael: Desert Star
Childers
1 Child, Lee and Andrew: In Too Deep
2 Connelly, Michael: Nightshade
3 Patterson, James and Fox, Candice: 2 Sisters Murder Investigations
4 Baldacci, David: To Die For
5 Coben, Harlan: Nobody’s Fool
6 Child, Lee and Andrew: The Secret
7 Baldacci, David: Strangers in Time
8 Baldacci, David: The Edge
9 Child, Lee and Andrew: Safe Enough
10 James, Peter: Stop them Dead
Gin Gin
1 Quinn, Jordan: The Coldfire Curse
2 Child, Lee and Andrew: In Too Deep
3 Hinodeya, Sankich: Splatoon Vol 5
4 Baldacci, David: To Die For
5 Quinn, Jordan: Ghost Island
6 Patterson, James & Raymond, Emily: Raised by Wolves
7 Hinodeya, Sankich: Splatoon Vol 1
8 Hinodeya, Sankich: Splatoon Vol 2
9 Coben, Harlan: Nobody’s Fool
10 Baldacci, David: Strangers in Time
Woodgate
1 Baldacci, David: Strangers in Time
2 Coben, Harlan: Nobody’s Fool
3 Connelly, Michael: The Waiting
4 Patterson, James and Fox, Candice: 2 Sisters Murder Investigations
5 Roberts, Nora: Mind Games
6 Patterson, James: The Texas Murders
7 Hammer, Chris: The Valley
8 Patterson, James amd Paetro, Maxine: 25 Alive
9 Patterson, James and O.Born, James: Paranoia
10 Baldacci, David: To Die For
