Wyndham residents are proving they love their local libraries, with a record 774,072 visits recorded last financial year.
Program attendances rose to almost 100,000 during the 2022-23 financial year, setting a new benchmark.
Wyndham City’s Learning City portfolio holder Cr Jasmine Hill said “It’s fabulous our community is making the most of Wyndham’s free library services“.
“In the 2022/23 financial year, we delivered 4,266 activities with a huge 95,972 attendances. This includes not only programs and events, it also includes a wide variety of other services such as Justice of the Peace and IT sessions and printed and online activities such as competitions“.
The busiest month was May with 503 programs.
Thirteen author talks attracted 270 attendees and there were 51 bi-lingual sessions with 870 attendees.
During 2022-23 there were 361 Baby Times held attracting 9991 attendees. There were also 779 Rhyme Times with 29,519 attendances (including outside sessions) and 534 holiday activities delivered with 18,248 attendances.
“Our early years and kids’ activities were the most popular sessions overall which reflect Wyndham’s demographics which is predominately young families,“ Cr Hill said.
“Engaging with children is so important to increase literacy levels and instil a love of lifelong learning and encourage social interaction.
“It’s wonderful to see so many people coming to the library and utilising all the libraries have on offer.“
The figures are likely to keep Wyndham City in the top five program attendances in the state when benchmarked against other Victorian Library services.
Cr Hill said the huge increase in numbers reflects the accessibility of two new services – Williams Landing Library Lounge and the Pop-Up Library Van – and also the rising cost of living and desire for free activities.
For more information visit: www.wyndham.vic.gov.aulibraries
