The rustle of pages, the sliding of fingers along spines and the reverent yet excited conversations of browsers and attendants swapping recommendations or opinions - the physicality of a book still evokes wonder.
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The tangibility of holding a novel and the pleasure of wandering along the shelves is part of the appeal, owner of independent bookshop The Book Cow Peter Arnaudo said.
Stories have been a part of human history since time immemorial and Australians are voracious readers.
ACT Libraries have recorded over 11 million physical and digital loans in the past five years.
Creative Australia reported almost 70 per cent of Australians read for pleasure in their 2023 Results of the National Arts Participation Survey.
The survey showed almost half of Australian readers were using audiobooks, while three in five used e-books at least occasionally.
Audiobooks were more popular with younger readers, men and people from Indigenous or culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, the report said.
But people were still visiting bookshops and libraries.
"They enjoy that local feel of going to a bookshop," Mr Arnaudo said.
"People enjoy the physical product, the feel of the book in their hands."
He said it was also about the community sense and supporting local businesses.
Audiobooks have established themselves as part of the market and have an unignorable impact on people's reading habits.
Whether it's due to accessibility or flexibility, audiobooks have allowed readers to diversify their consumption.
"[It's about] people choosing what the best format for their needs are," Mr Arnaudo said.
Whether it is for families on long drives that need something to occupy the children, or to make the daily commute more interesting, audiobooks are being used.
Bookshops like The Book Cow have started offering titles through provider Libro.fm.
They give stores a portion of each audiobook, purchased back to the store.
"We can't ignore them, we can't say, 'Oh we don't sell them here'," Mr Arnaudo said.
And readers still come back in afterwards to buy the physical book, usually as gifts or for collector editions of titles.
"An audiobook can't replace that ... they're beautiful things, books," he said.
Dr Merv Wilkinson, from Gungahlin, said he prefered physical books particularly for the ability to hold and feel them.
But he also appreciated the cultural nature of the book.
"There's a certain artistry about it ... its an artefact, a cultural artefact," he said.
"It's there, it doesn't disappear into the cloud."
Libraries have also pivoted from strictly physical books.
Up to 30 per cent of funding in the last five years has been allocated to digital resources by ACT Libraries.
E-books and audiobooks are bought by libraries under various lending models which are entirely dependent on the publisher.
Overdrive Australia and New Zealand's regional manager Malcolm O'Brien said some publishers were very pro-libraries, while others were less so.
Overdrive's Libby app allows borrowers to lend e-books, audiobooks and magazines through library cards.
Libraries ACT pools funding between all nine of its branches and the ACT Heritage Library, a common model across Australia.
And authors aren't being left behind in the move to digital borrowing.
The Australian Lending Right Schemes has included e-books and audiobooks in their payment scheme since 2023, meaning publishers and authors receive royalties according to how frequently their books are borrowed across mediums.
"We cooperate fully with them and we'll say, 'OK Rebecca Yarros got borrowed 10,000 times by libraries in Australia'," Mr O'Brien said.
"Everyone in the business thinks it's a really good idea ... it's only fair that the authors do get some money for it."
Since 2019, digital loans in public libraries have grown from just under 30 per cent of all loans, to almost 41 per cent.
Physical loans include loans of books, DVDs, CDs, magazines and audiobooks and digital loans include loans of eBooks, eAudiobooks and e-Magazines and usage of databases and other digital resources.
This wealth of available resources and materials means the Canberra community still considers public libraries as a book repository and somewhere to go, Libraries ACT executive branch manager Peta Harding said.
"We like the feeling that people seem to feel like they own us," Ms Harding said.
While Libraries ACT has been carefully monitoring the digital landscape and keeping up with reading trends for e-books and audiobooks, she said libraries provided valuable community resources and spaces.
"We are so much more than just books," Ms Harding said.
They provide free computer access, digital literacy support and are involved in building literacy during early childhood.
They also assist people needing to complete paperwork such as for passports, licences or Centrelink.
Libraries ACT is currently exploring collections for languages other than English.
It wants to start a hyperlocal approach to its resources to best suit the needs of the community.
