13 April 2000

New Zealanders love their libraries

In 1999, New Zealanders borrowed 34 million items from the 15 largest public libraries in the country. This equates to 15 items for every man, woman and child living in cities from Invercargill to Whangarei.

Released by MetroNet, the incorporated society of large, metropolitan libraries serving populations of 50,000 and above, the figures clearly indicate that libraries continue to play an important role.

Spokesperson for MetroNet Sue Sutherland said "New Zealanders are using their libraries as much as ever. Whether it is to borrow books, magazines, CDs or videos, or to use the Internet or other web-based resources, libraries are continuing to fulfil the recreation and information needs of their users." Librarians also answered nearly 4 million reference enquiries for the same period.

MetroNet was incorporated in 1999 to improve standards of service, enable joint ventures and consortia projects, share information and learning and raise the profile of public libraries in government and business.

Further information on MetroNet can be found at www.metronet.org.nz

For more information, please contact:

• Sue Sutherland, Libraries Manager, Canterbury Public Library, 03-372-7851
• Alison Dobbie, City Librarian, Dunedin Public Libraries, 04-474-3690