A regional library has published a worrying social media post that suggests panic book borrowing could be following hot on the heels of panic toilet paper buying.

The eerie post on Busselton and Dunsborough Libraries Facebook page this morning shows shelves empty of books.

“🤦🏻 Panic borrowing has started. There’s a limit of 30 items per membership at both Busselton & Dunsborough libraries, and you may have items checked out for 3 weeks,” the post read.

“But if we find any pages missing upon return... 🤬”

However, library spokesperson Therese Colman said borrowers had nothing to worry about.

“This is a case of real fake news,” Ms Colman laughed.

“We wanted to be included with the whole panic buying saga and thought we’d have a bit of a laugh.”

Ms Colman set the scene by moving most of the books out of the shot, leaving just a few lonely hardbacks scattered on bare shelves.

The post has rapidly gained traction with scores of reactions, comments and shares.

Most who commented were not fooled by the hoax, however, adding their own memes to lend some light relief to recent stories of panic stockpiling.