CQ Regional Rep Peta Browne has been catching up on the latest activities from across the central region.
Bundaberg Regional Libraries
National Simultaneous Storytime at Gin Gin
Gin Gin Library made a special presentation of this year’s book, The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkell and Danny Snell, at Family Frolics (Gin Gin’s Under 8s Day), which happened to fall on National Simultaneous Storytime day.
The library is located within a hub alongside multiple Council departments. This year it was a real team effort to set the scene. Maya (Gin Gin Neighbourhood Centre) painted the scenery; Faren (Kolan Community Options,) Ros (Gin Gin Library) and Mel (Gin Gin Neighbourhood Centre) were the actors; and Jaala (Bundaberg Library) was the narrator. It was a great opportunity to share the love of books with the staff and the wider community. The audience loved it!
First 5 Forever Giveaway: Proven Success in Early Literacy Engagement
From December 2024 to March 2025, Bundaberg, Childers, and Gin Gin libraries ran a highly successful First 5 Forever giveaway, distributing monthly books and toys to children under six. This initiative significantly boosted early literacy skills and community engagement, and each month the book/toy aligned with the Talk, Read, Sing, and Play framework.
Impact Highlights:
- Remarkable Engagement: We saw sustained participation, with 40% of Bundaberg participants consistently collecting all four giveaways. Childers also reported strong ongoing involvement.
- Growing Patronage: The program drove new library memberships, with 14% of Bundaberg and 17% of Gin Gin respondents joining as a direct result.
- Effective Outreach: Our dedicated staff were instrumental in promoting the program, reaching nearly all participants in Gin Gin and most in Childers.
- Heartfelt Community Endorsements: Families praised the program for fostering children’s love of reading, enhancing library visits, and providing valuable community connection, especially for low-income families.
Key Learnings for Your Library:
- Empower Staff: Direct staff involvement is paramount for successful early literacy initiatives.
- Provide Incentives: Books and toys are powerful motivators for family participation and new memberships.
- Utilise Your Branches: Leverage existing library infrastructure to maximise program accessibility and reinforce your role as an early learning hub.
Our First 5 Forever giveaway offers a clear blueprint for impactful, library-led early literacy programs, encouraging collaboration and growth across library systems.
Central Highlands Regional Libraries
Easter School Holiday Programs
The CHRC Libraries have had a busy quarter with School holiday programs, which included Easter craft activities, Robotics, Easter movies and GOMA with 714 children attending the sessions across the 9 branches.
Under 8s Days
Under 8’s Days were held across the region at Duaringa, Tieri, Emerald. These were well attended and thoroughly enjoyed by all communities.
National Simultaneous Storytime
National Simultaneous Storytime sessions were held at all libraries in the region with a mix of Storytime sessions and school and kindy visits to the libraries. The country children really enjoyed this year’s book.
Our Springsure library officer made an outstanding display for National Simultaneous Storytime (below).
Fraser Coast Libraries
Lines in the Sand – author talks
The joy of author talks is that they are as varied and interesting as books themselves. Audiences were treated to two in June on a Thursday evening at the Hervey Bay Gallery with Grantlee Kieza sharing a wealth of stories on his new biography Annette Kellerman: Australian Mermaid and an afternoon at the Hervey Bay Library with Angie Faye Martin celebrating the launch of her debut novel, Melaleuca.
Seed Library Talks in the Gardens
Our seed library partnerships continued with Kat Swan from Fraser Coast Council’s Natural Environment section sharing her knowledge on a Beneficial Insects at Halcro Street Community Gardens in Hervey Bay and Ash Rogers from FCRC’s Wide Bay Water and Waste services demonstrating creative repurposing of waste at the Lupton Park Community Gardens in Maryborough. Our community is enthusiastic about sustainable living topics and enjoy being able to do it in such lovely surrounds. The Seed Library concept has become a successful sustainable program model following its conception as a Strategic Priorities Grant initiative.
Library after dark
Our first night library in May was popular with families who came for a range of activities including a special Storytime with staff in onesies, Mirco robotics “Robowars”, spheros chariot races and was enjoyed by all. We go a little batty in June with all activities being bat themed. The Hervey Bay Library is opening on the third Thursday of the month until 7.30pm, in response to community demand to allow users to attend outside of work hours.
Design a library card competition
As our Design a Library Card competition 3 years ago was a great success, it is only fitting as we move toward pre-printed cards, that we give aspiring artists within our local community a new opportunity to have their design immortalised on a library card that can be enjoyed by their family and friends. The competition is open to all members of the Fraser Coast Libraries across five age categories, so everyone can take part. It closes COB Saturday 12 July.
School holidays – First 5 Forever 10-year celebration party at Burrum Heads
Last school holidays we celebrated 10 years of first 5 forever at Maryborough’s Brolga Theatre with special guests Errol the Frog and Deano Yipadee performing Errol’s song, commissioned especially by the Fraser Coast Libraries. Errol the frog and First 5 Forever star cookies were handed out to the hundreds of attendees. These celebrations will continue during the June/July school holidays with a party celebrating 10 years of First 5 Forever at Burrum Heads on Wednesday 9 July! There will be face painting, jumping castles, and lots of fun for the whole family. Errol will be there too! In fact, Errol will have recently returned from his road trip in his special van to the 10-year celebrations of First 5 Forever at Redland Libraries on Monday 30 June, Cleveland Library and Logan City Library on Tuesday 1 July, and Victoria Point Library on Wednesday 2 July. Errol has reached true celebrity status!!! A party is planned for Hervey Bay in September.
Young Adult Programs – CHILL
Hervey Bay youth are invited to hang out, do homework, play games, enjoy afternoon tea and CHILL on Friday afternoons during school term from 12pm – 3.30pm in our Creative Space. Our CHILL young adult program has enjoyed great attendance this year from Hervey Bay High students who finish school early on Fridays. Local youth Partnerships have been formed with the Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre Youth Assistance Program Officer Joshua Sirovy who facilitates podcasting sessions on alternate weeks to attendances from our Headspace partners.
Child Health Community Partnership
Hervey Bay Library welcomed Child Health into our meeting spaces in the wake of the floods caused by ex-tropical cyclone Alfred on 9 March which damaged their facility. To say this partnership has been beneficial to both parties is an understatement. We have encountered many families visiting Child Health who were unaware of what our library service has to offer who have now become members and regular attendees to our First 5 Forever Under 5 programs. Conversely, with our regular promotion of Child Health in our Under 5 programs, they have enjoyed greater engagement with local families also.
This year the Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) team have been heading out into the remoter regions of the Fraser Coast community with their Tales Under the Trees monthly sessions. We have been to Bauple, Maaroom, and an attendance at Poona on a wet and rainy day established a monthly partnership with a local playgroup! Our First 5 Forever van enables us to facilitate library membership sign-ups as well as loaning books and toys from our collection to families disadvantaged by distance.
Our partnerships with local schools continue to grow with regular visits to our libraries for programs and borrowing by Howard, Tiaro, and Maryborough Central State Schools. Additionally, we have already attended Under 8s days for 7 local schools in the last few weeks and have bookings up until August! We also regularly attend school parades with Errol the frog to promote our library services, competitions, and school holiday programs.
Whitsunday Regional Libraries
New e-Membership
The Whitsunday libraries have implemented a new e-Membership category to meet the demands of our transient community members. This category allows full access to our online resources only, including Libby, Hoopla, Press Reader and Borrowbox, plus a suite of online learning resources. The downloadable apps allow patrons to access movies, audiobooks, magazines, e-books plus the most celebrated reading resource for the little ones, Story Box Hub. The e-membership is valid for a period of 3 months. It is renewable in person only.
Whitsunday Regional Libraries – Community Engagement Wrap-Up
Whitsunday Regional Libraries recently delivered a region-wide “How Do You Library?” campaign, supported by a State Library of Queensland microgrant. The initiative featured a series of expos across Proserpine, Collinsville, Bowen, and Cannonvale branches from February to May 2025, showcasing programs, digital services, and resources, while inviting the community to reconnect with their local library.
Each expo was tailored to its community, with highlights including First 5 Forever pop-ups, eResource demonstrations, creative activities, guest artists, and giveaways. Across the four events, we welcomed over 700 attendees and saw strong community participation. Most notably, the campaign led to almost 400 new library sign-ups during the four-month period.
We also launched our first-ever Bookmark Design Competition, which attracted an incredible 272 entries from across the region. The creativity and community pride reflected in the submissions were truly inspiring, and the initiative helped deepen relationships with local schools and councillors, who assisted in the judging process.
This campaign has significantly boosted awareness of library services, sparked new memberships, and strengthened community connection. We’re proud of the results and look forward to building on this momentum through ongoing outreach and engagement.
