About Libraries ACT
Libraries ACT delivers public library services to the ACT community. It is the only public library service in Canberra, which is Australia's capital city, and serves a population of over 350,000 people.
Libraries ACT is also responsible for the ACT Heritage Library, which helps tell the stories of Canberra and its people. It collects, preserves, promotes and provides access to documents that record the lives of Canberra's residents.
Vision
Libraries ACT champions literacy, learning and the pleasure of reading, and inspires and connects people, engaging them with their community and the world.
A Few Facts and Figures
- The library welcomed almost 1.9 million visitors in 2011-12.
- Over 3 million items were borrowed and then returned to the library in 2011-2012.
- That's the equivalent of more than 1,350 tonnes handled by library staff, which is is over 3 tonnes per day (the average elephant weighs up to 8 and a half tonnes).
- The most requested books in 2012 were Speechless: A Year in My Father's Business by James Button, The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton, 15-Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver, The Fifty Shades trilogy by E. L. James, Worse Things Happen at Sea: Tales of Life, Love, Family and the Everyday Beauty in Between by William McInnes and Sarah Watt, and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
- The most requested DVDs in 2012 were The Hunger Games, Midnight in Paris, Red Dog, Downton Abbey: Series One, and The Adjustment Bureau.
- The most borrowed books in the library over the last eight years are Mills and Boon titles, Grandpa and Thomas by Pamela Allen, The Turning by Tim Winton, Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), Hunwick's Egg by Mem Fox, Daisy All-Sorts by Pamela Allen, Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek, and Be Gentle by Virginia Miller.
- The most borrowed DVDs in the library over the last eight years are Lost: The Complete First Season, The Persuaders Collection 2, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Stargate SG 1 Season 2, and The Day After Tomorrow.
Organisation
Libraries ACT is a business unit within the Territory Services Division of the Directorate of Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS). TAMS, formerly known as Urban Services, is a Directorate of the ACT Government.
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