Aiming to become central to the UK

The Scotsman has reported on Birmingham Central Library aims to become nation's favourite. This ambition follows Birmingham Central Library being named second most popular library in the country after the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library. The annual library survey compiled by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) for the Museums and Libraries Archive Council revealed that Birmingham had 1,357,148 visits in 2007/08, http://business.scotsman.com/latest-east-anglia-news/Library-tops-popularity-charts-again.5032459.jp.

Despite suffering a 2.6 per cent downturn in visitor figures, the Central Library still attracted a massive 1,409,356 people in 2007-08, an increase of almost four per cent on the previous 12 months [sic].
http://heritage.scotsman.com/latest-west-midlands-news/Library-aims-to-become-nation39s.5047666.jp




With the City Council currently working on it's plans for a new £193 million new Central Library the increase in numbers goes well against a national trend of declining visits to libraries and borrowers of books. Memberships have also been increasing and this along with the nearly 4 million visitors to Birmingham libraries bodes well for the new Central Library and for libraries in Birmingham.

Membership numbers swelled by nearly 4,500 towards the end of last year, taking the number of people who use the city’s libraries on a regular basis to 175,000.
http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/02/23/increase-in-numbers-using-birmingham-libraries-97319-22984606/


Councillor Louise Baldock, Councillor for Kensington and Fairfield Ward in Liverpool has helpfully listed the twenty most visited libraries and the twenty where the most number of books were taken out,http://louisebaldock.blogspot.com/2009/03/library-league-tables.html.

Most popular libraries
1. Norfolk & Norwich Millennium 1,500,695
2. Birmingham Central Library 1,357,148
3. Central Library, Manchester 1,081,798
4. Croydon Central Library 1,051,366
5 Brighton & Hove Jubilee 870,938
6 Suffolk County Library, Ipswich 847,080
7 Sunderland City Library and Arts Centre 778,050
8 Hounslow 766,232
9 Romford 759,722
10 Wood Green Central (Haringey) 745,141
11 Dundee Central Library, The Wellgate 743,470
12 Blackburn Central Library 739,024
13 Harris Library, Preston 696,800
14 Huddersfield Central Library 693,680
15 Colchester 682,955
16 Hendon Library 682,838
17 Chesterfield 664,612
18 Whitechapel 649,203
19 Woking 649,064
20 Central Library, Coventry 645,060

Most books loaned out
1. Norfolk & Norwich Millennium 1,139,090
2. Chelmsford 742,048
3 Milton Keynes Central 711,672
4 Central Library, Oxford 671,418
5 Chesterfield 634,024
6 Southend 609,667
7 Brighton & Hove Jubilee 600,723
8 Birmingham Central Library 578,657
9 Horsham Library 533,432
10 Carlisle 504,625
11 Nottingham Central Library 503,921
12 Exeter Central Library 488,100
13 Blackburn Central Library 473,210
14 Coventry Central Library 471,184
15 Sutton 469,239
16 Macclesfield 469,218
17 Taunton 464,308
18 York 463,437
19 Croydon Central Library 461,227
20 Bromley Central 454,766

http://louisebaldock.blogspot.com/2009/03/library-league-tables.html

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