If you’ve borrowed a Jack Reacher book from the Ashburton Public Library recently, you’re in good company.

Lee Child, who has written 28 fictional books about retired military police Major Jack Reacher taking out the bad guys, is one of the most popular authors on the adult shelves.

His best-selling books are hot property at the library, which issued a total of 211,477 items across all categories in 2021.

Reacher, of course, also comes on eBook and eAudiobook. Both these categories were well used last year by library users, who accessed a total of 5205 eBooks and 7381 eAudiobooks.

Other popular authors in the adult library were James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Lesley Pearce.

Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters books are the most popular series.

Library manager Jill Watson said any books on politicians were also popular with borrowers.

Books about our own Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, former National Party leader Judith Collins and former US president Donald Trump were among the most checked-out non-fiction items.

Also popular in the adult non-fiction library were any books about New Zealand rugby players and, specifically, Life as a Casketeer by Francis Tipene (made popular by the TV series).

Ms Watson said books were only part of the attraction of a modern library and staff were also involved with helping people navigate digital services and resources, assisting with CVs, running a homework hub and coding classes for youngsters, and a whole other range of activities.

“We also have a home delivery service for people who can’t physically get to the library because of ill health and those books are taken into homes by volunteers from the Altrusa Club.

“Our lending levels remain strong, despite all that has gone on in the world in the past two years. Reading remains a great escape.”

Popular young adult authors include Holly Black, Suzanne Collins and Cassandra Clare. David Walliams and JK Rowling (Harry Potter) still top the list of popular children’s authors.

The library added Hoopla to its list of electronic resources in November. Hoopla is a digital streaming service offering access to eBooks, eAudiobooks, eComics, music, movies and TV shows.

Borrowers can download five items a month, and in bonus months can download more.

For Hoopla, borrowers need:

TV with streaming capabilities, tablet, smartphone or computer.
Email address and password.
Library card number and pin (only needed one time in the registration process)
Hoopla digital app or browser software (e.g. Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari etc.)