Whangārei libraries are thriving community hubs

Published on 23 April 2025

Library staff are still buzzing from the Night Café Whangārei at the Central Library during the Love it Here Festival on Valentine’s Day in February 2025. Musical performances, sewing tutorials, library tours, board games and writing competitions generated a warm, inviting atmosphere where visitors could hang out and ‘just be’.

Whangārei is a district of keen readers and library users, according to the latest figures from our public libraries.

Library Manager Paula Urlich says it’s really encouraging to see the use of the library continuing to increase.

“In the past, people thought that libraries would become obsolete with the rise of eBooks. In fact, we’re finding the opposite; people still want to read physical books and the borrowing of physical books is increasing at a faster rate than that of eBooks.”

Ms Urlich says the average number of items borrowed per month, over the past year across Whangārei’s public libraries, is 66,000 and average monthly visitors to the libraries is 32,000.

This is an increase from the previous year, which saw an average of 63,000 items borrowed per month and 31,000 average monthly visitors.

“People really enjoy coming to the library, not just for choosing books but also for having a coffee with friends, holding meetings, and taking part in one of our programmes like Preschool Funtimes sessions or Heritage Talks. The Justice of the Peace service, and free Wi-Fi and computers are also big drawcards.”

She says the figures for Whangārei echo the recently released Public Libraries of New Zealand National Data Collection report, which highlights the continued growth and impact of public libraries around the country.

“The figures show there are over 1.4 million active members of public libraries across New Zealand, representing 28 per cent of the population.”

The report also highlights the ongoing trend of more libraries moving to become fine-free.

“We’ve been fine-free at our public libraries since 2022, something I’m not sure everyone is aware of. This means we no longer charge overdue fines, but we do still need to get the books back so they can go out to other library users. If books are still overdue after a month, they become classed as missing, and you will be asked to pay for a replacement.”