Highlights from the Statistical Bulletin 2017-18

Each year the State Library of Queensland coordinates the collection of statistical data from Queensland public libraries and compiles the data into the Queensland Public Libraries Statistical Bulletin.

Image by Fadil Elmansour (CC BY 2.0)

Some of the highlights from the 2017-18 data include:

• Almost 1.8 million people attended 83,000 programs and events hosted by Queensland public libraries, an annual increase of more than 10 percent


• Per capita attendance at programs reached 0.37, compared to the national average of 0.27


• Electronic resources continued to grow in popularity, representing almost 15% of all loans in 2017-18


• The usage of ebooks grew to 5.6% of all loans in 2017-18, continuing the strong growth of recent years


• Over 994,000 items, both physical and electronic, were added to public library collections in 2017-18

You may want to let your Council know how your service compares with other public libraries, or use the statistics to demonstrate your achievements in the previous year. For more information or if you require an excel version of any of the previous reports contact lgc@slq.qld.gov.au