The library was notified on Monday that it had won the Space Activation Award in the 2016 Summer Reading Club (SRC) Library Display Competition.

SRC said the Space Activation Award is for a library “whose space creatively embodies the SRC theme and is appealing to the interest of children, young people and families”.

The theme for the national reading club in 2016 was heroes and villains, with Gunnedah’s library staff getting creative, utilising all of the space to create a fun imaginary world for kids.

The library featured well-known heroes and villains such as Bat Man, Cat Woman, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even had a Batcave.

Library staff members Robyn Draper and Yvonne Reading took up drawing pencils and paintbrushes to create the many props and cardboard figures, while incentive officer Julie Shields organised a scavenger hunt, hiding 37 pictures of heroes and villains throughout the library. The display took around eight hours to make and was a year in the planning.

Ms Draper was keen to enter the competition after she received an email from SRC in 2016 listing the previous winners.

“We saw the winners and decided we could do a good job,” she said.

Ms Draper and Ms Reading said they were surprised and very excited to hear the library had won the 2016 competition, especially because it was the first time the library had entered.

“We enjoy decorating the library. People like coming in and seeing it,” Ms Reading said.

“It’s good fun doing it and to see the kids’ reactions.”

Librarian Christiane Birkett said she was “delighted” with the award and said the displays were always a “team effort”.

Council’s executive manager of business systems and governance, Colin Formann said the community was lucky to have the library staff.

“Our library staff are very creative and inventive at being able to maximise the use of the space we’ve got over there,” he said.

“For a small rural library, it seems the awards keep rolling in and Gunnedah library is punching above its weight.

“To the library team, congrats for all the efforts. It’s good to see the hard work paying off and good to see them recognised for their work.”

The library team is already planning for next year’s competition with the theme of “Game On”.

“We have to defend our title,” Ms Reading said.