Public library loans show dramatic fall in last two years

Lifestyle

Library book loans continued a downward trend in 2016, with figures obtained by the Guardian revealing that loans for the year to 10 December fell on average by 14%, with loans to adults worst hit at 15% down. Loans of children’s books fell by just over 12%. However, this comes at a time when book sales in both sectors have continued to climb.

Leading library campaigner Tim Coates blamed cuts to libraries’ book stocks and opening hours, which he said were undermining the chief purpose of libraries. He said: “This is a clarion call to put books back at the centre of what libraries do and to do it quickly. Libraries have a combined budget of £900m; if only £100m of that was spent on improving book stock we could turn this around.”

According to Nielsen LibScan, which monitors loans through public libraries, specialist nonfiction for adults took the worst hit in the 12 months to 10 December. Volume growth was down by 15.89%. Loans of popular nonfiction for adults were also down – by 14.29% – with adult fiction loans, down 14.24%, faring scarcely better. In contrast, sales through bookshops of all three were up over the same period, with popular nonfiction books up by almost 11%.

Borrowing of children’s books has caused most concern among campaigners. Though sales of children’s books over the last year have risen by 5.5%, reflecting years of consistent growth, loans through libraries have continued to drop, falling by just over 12%. Desmond Clarke, a leading campaigner, said: “These are very depressing figures that reinforce a trend that has been going on for some years.” He added that less than 6p in the pound of library budgets was spent on books. “It is even worse with children’s books, where only 1p in the pound is spent on stock.”

He accused the Libraries Taskforce of “sitting on the banks of a river as the bodies float by … Everyone has to wake up to what’s going on,” adding that he would be delighted when “the taskforce puts the decline in usage and book loans at the top of the agenda for one of its meetings”.

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