Clarence Regional Library has seen record-breaking numbers of loans despite being officially closed since March.

The library’s click/call & collect service has seen over 15,000 loans since it was set up seven weeks ago to allow borrowers to safely collect pre-ordered books from the front door of their local library.

“We’ve had 15,248 items loaned and 11,228 reservations placed across all of our libraries,” Regional Librarian, Kathryn Breward said.

“We’re so pleased that we’ve been able to safely connect our members to their library during these COVID-19 times.”

The library’s online eLibrary has also seen a big uptake with over 4000 digital loans processed in April.

“Our eLibrary is like a digital highway in peak hour – it’s getting so much traffic,” Mrs Breward said.

“Every week numbers keep going up.”

Downloads of the new Clarence Regional Library app are also going up with 922 downloads since March.

Mrs Breward said they were hoping to reach 1000 downloads by the end of May.

More Clarence Regional Library Statistics for April:
– Over 1100 eMagazines were borrowed. Top downloads were Woman’s Day, New Idea, Better Homes and Gardens.

– The most popular eAudiobook was Persuader by Lee Childs.

– The most popular eBook was Without a Doubt by Fleur McDonald

– Another big ticket eBook for April was Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey. It was first published in 1912 and it’s a Western.

– 128 people have signed up to be CRL members since libraries closed.

As restrictions ease, Clarence Valley Libraries are once again preparing for change.

“We’re putting plans in place for a staged re-opening, but safety will be our number one priority,” Mrs Breward said.

“For now, we are focusing on click/call & collect and our eLibrary.”