Good, Bad and Ugly Library Stats

·       During 2018, 130 public libraries closed in the UK (a net loss of 127 libraries). This savage loss comes from a national total of around 4,000 public libraries.

·       Spending on libraries by local authorities fell by £30 million. In 2017, the drop in spending was even worse, at £66m.

·       Over 700 librarians left or lost their jobs during 2018. There was demand for a further 3,000 volunteers (bringing the total nationwide of volunteer librarians to 51,394).

·       In 2010, less than a decade ago, around 10 libraries were ‘community’ run libraries – i.e. volunteer-led; by 2017, with funding having continually fallen year on year, the need had arisen for 500 such set-ups (out of the UK’s total 3,850 libraries).

·       In England, over a third of the population visits their local library. In the poorest areas, that figure rises to a half.

·       The aggregate NHS savings due to library use is estimated at £27.5 million per year.

·       As part of the ‘Get Online’ campaign, libraries have already enabled over 3 million people with online facilities. Eleven per cent of UK households are not online.

·       Business programmes through libraries helped to create 1,692 new businesses and 4,178 new jobs between April 2013 and March 2015.

·       Libraries in the UK have more than 225 million in-person visits per year and 90 million online visits.

·       Libraries provide a payback of £4.50 for every £1 of public money.

For more such statistics, visit www.librariesdeliver.uk