IRISH readers had legal
matters on their minds last year with John Grisham's
'The Litigators' the most borrowed book from public
libraries in 2012.
Preliminary figures show that the courtroom thriller
topped the list of most borrowed adult fiction by
library members last year.
The most borrowed book of adult non-fiction was the
'The Official Driver Theory Test', according to the
statistics.
Meanwhile, younger readers were more interested in
the trials and tribulations of growing up with
'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' by Jeff Kinney the most
borrowed children's book at public libraries around
the country.
The Library Development Unit of the Local Government
Management Agency is currently compiling a full list
of the most borrowed books at public libraries last
year and expects to publish the completed figures in
June.
Its preliminary list shows that the most borrowed
author at Irish libraries in 2012 was US crime
writer James Patterson. Patterson is best known for
his books featuring criminal psychologist Alex
Cross.
The most borrowed children's author at Irish
libraries last year was Roderick Hunt with his
popular titles in the Oxford Reading Tree series
featuring characters including Biff, Chip and
Kipper.
Last year's most popular novel among adult
borrowers, 'The Litigators', tells the story of a
small Chicago legal firm's spirited go at the
big-time with a class action suit against a big
pharmaceutical company.
A whopping 16.5 million books were borrowed from
Irish libraries in 2011.
People in Cork city borrow the most library books
with 6.2 books borrowed per head of population last
year compared to 4 books per head in Fingal. Library
members in Waterford City borrowed 5.3 books; Dun
Laoghaire-Rathdown (5.2 books); Cork county (4.6
books); Limerick city ( 4.4 books); Clare (4.3
books); Mayo (4.2 books); Wexford (4.1 books) and
Westmeath (4 books). Public libraries are receiving
increasingly less money to spend on buying books for
the public. Just over €10m was spent in stock
acquisition nationally in 2010, falling to €8.7
million in 2011 and an estimated €7.6 million last
year. |
