The bookbus is still in demand on the Otago Peninsula, despite borrowing numbers for Dunedin Public Libraries declining throughout the city.
Speaking at the Otago Peninsula Community Board meeting last week, Dunedin City Council library services manager Bernie Hawke said it had been a ‘‘reasonably good year’’ for the libraries, primarily due to the opening of the South Dunedin Community Pop-Up in September last year.
‘‘The peninsula stops are among the busiest of our [bookbus] stops,’’ Mr Hawke said.
It was the only route that required two librarians to staff the bus.
The bus’s weekly issues averaged 226 from January to August this year, up from 144 last year.
Each week it stops at Portobello School and village, Broad Bay, and Macandrew Bay School and village.
The Broad Bay stop has been the most popular so far this year with 72 issues. It is shared by school pupils and residents.
Mr Hawke said school visits could depend on what was going on at the school and what the pupils were learning.
There was a slight decline in borrowing trends throughout the city but it was not unique to Dunedin, he said.
Total loans from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018 were 1,238,126, a decrease of 59,686 from 2016-17. Decreased loans were recorded at all service locations except the pop-up.
Total loans from the bookbuses in 2017-18 were 93,066, down by 1805 from 2016-17.
The total number of visits to libraries was more than last year, while visits to the bookbus were fewer.
