« A new Act of Parliament for Public Libraries | Main | Which councils spend less than 1% of their whole library budget on childrens' books? »
September 21, 2008
Book Lending in UK public libraries
In 1996/97 we loaned 486m books of which 379m were to adults and 107m were to children
In 2006/07 we loaned 315m books of which 214m were to adults and 91m were to children
The decline in adult loans during the period was 43.5%; the decline in childrens' loans was 15.0%. The overall decline was 35.2%
These were the years during which childrens books flourished in this country more than at any time in our history with the publication of the Harry Potter books.
Funding of the service consistently increased by more than the rate of inflation
In the 385 public libraries in London just 1.2% of the £214m funds for the service in 2006/07 was spent on books for children to read.
These figures are shocking. Does it need to be said?
Posted by Perkins at September 21, 2008 7:20 PM