Library Funding Falls

According to CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), investment in public libraries fell again in 2016.

The figures obtained from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) show that over the past year:

  • Total expenditure on library services in Great Britain fell by £25m, from £944m (2014/15) to £919m (2015/16)
  • The number of FTE paid library staff fell by 964, from 18,028 (2014/15) to 17,064 (2015/16)
  • 67 libraries closed, from 3,917 (2014/15) to 3,850 (2015/16)
  • Total visits dropped by 5.5%, from 265 million (2014/5) to 250 million (2015/16)

http://www.cilip.org.uk/news/spending-public-libraries-falls-cilip-calls-urgent-investment

We visit public libraries in the UK more often than we visit ANYTHING else

In 2013-14, there were 230 million visits to Public Libraries in England alone; 282 million across the whole UK. People like to focus on how that represents a small reduction – but instead of comparing library visits with previous years, what does it look like if we compare them with visits to just about anything else? Like theatre visits, cinema visits, visits to football matches, or to church?

Source: We visit public libraries in the UK more often than we visit ANYTHING else