Forster Library has been announced as having the highest loans per capita in rural NSW and is ranked the fourth highest in the state.

“It’s due to a couple of factors, our demographic is retirees and young people – great for this area,” library manager Chris Jones said.

“We’d like to think as well we have a place with a lot of appeal, an inviting building and customer focused staff.”

The library’s newest facility in Tea Gardens has doubled its loans since opening in 2003 and is the fastest growing of its four regional branches – the remaining three in Bulahdelah, Stroud and Nabiac.

Mr Jones said Great Lakes people borrow more than double the state average, but it’s not all books.

He said the library’s DVD collection is the most popular section with close to 5000 titles available.

“Book borrowing is healthy and kicking on fine but our non-print section is becoming very popular.”

Transcending the stereotype that libraries only offer books, Great Lakes has thousands of the latest CD titles, magazines and talking books.

“DVDs are popular because they appeal to the whole community and we make sure we have a notable range and always try to get Academy Award winning movies.”

The new stock is due to Great Lakes Council’s funding reinstatement.

“Last year 2009 – 2010 was a horror, essentially we had $100,000 cut from our budget.”

Mr Jones said borrowing dropped over the 12 months, which he attributes to a lack of new stock, but said council has reinstated around $90,000 in funding.

“We’ve got a long way to go to meet the state standards but council has made a big step towards it.”