LISU Annual Library Statistics 2002

The latest edition of LISU's annual compilation of statistics relating to libraries has now been published. The 16th in the series, LISU Annual Library Statistics 2002 comprises several sections covering public libraries, academic libraries special libraries and national libraries. There is also a section containing miscellaneous data on publishing, including material price indices as well as a national view of the most borrowed books according to figures from the Office for Public Lending Right. The information on public libraries and higher education libraries is extensive and reveals some interesting, and a few worrying trends, some of which are outlined here.

Public libraries
There is some good news for public libraries this year with total UK spending on public libraries increasing for the third consecutive year, to Ł878m. Total library expenditure per head of population was Ł14.70, an increase of 2.7% on the previous year. The public library continues to be popular with 324 million visits made to public libraries in the UK, representing 5.4 per head of population, in 2000 - 2001.

Perhaps less encouraging news is that only 10% of the total budget was spent on books, compared to 15 % ten years ago. Overall, expenditure on books has dropped by 15 % over the last ten years, without allowing for inflation. This must inevitably lead to difficulties for medium and long term planning and in sustaining a core aspect of service. In a severe budgeting climate the materials fund can so easily become a target.

There are a total of 119 million books in stock in public libraries, and this represents a fall of 2% over last year. Of these, 87 million are available for lending, with the remaining 32 million being for reference or held in reserve collections. For the first time, stock levels for the UK as a whole have fallen below two books per person. Eleven million books were added to stock in 2000-01, and although this represents an increase of 2.4% over the previous year, it is also 16% less than ten years ago. Of these acquisitions 39% were adult fiction, 29% adult non-fiction and reference and 32% children's books. The balance of acquisitions continues to move away from adult stock towards increasing provision for children.

The decline in book issues which has been apparent since 1991-92 continues, with a drop of 5.7% in the last year to a total of 406 million. Issues are now below seven books per person per year, a drop of 30% on the number recorded ten years ago. The falls have been similar for all categories of books this year. For the first time, less than 100 million children's books were issued during the year, following falls in each of the last four years.

Investment in non-book material has been noticeable. Though admittedly starting from a low base figure, spending on sound recordings has increased by 63 % over the last ten years, and that on video recordings by 234 % in the same period. This may be viewed as public libraries responding to changing patterns of demand.

The number of traditional branches fell slightly last year to 4,610. Total opening hours per week were also down slightly, although the major cuts experienced in the early 1990s have not been repeated in recent years. For the second year running, there has been an increase in the number of service points open for 60 hours per week or more, which now stands at 25 throughout the UK.

Income generation is becoming increasingly important and the amount raised has risen by 12% in the last year, to Ł87m. Of particular interest is the fact that for the first time, more revenue was generated from the hire of audio and video materials than from overdue charges and reservation fees.
Remarkably in the light of some of these figures, user surveys show that satisfaction remains high, with the lowest rating being for the range of materials available, and the highest being recorded for staff. In 2000, 68% of adult visitors thought the range of materials 'good' or 'very good', compared to 66% in 1999. Book lending remains the most popular activity according to adult public library users, as 75% reported borrowing or returning books. However, only 58% of visitors who were looking for a particular book, author or subject, found what they wanted. By contrast, 22% of adult visitors said that they came seeking information, and 76% of these found what they were looking for.

Academic libraries
The picture for higher education looks a little more promising, but some of the evidence has to be interpreted with care. Higher education library expenditure per FTE student has increased by 2.3% in the last year compared to a general inflation rate of 2.6%. As a whole, the sector spent Ł99 per FTE student on information provision in 2000-01, an increase of 5.8% over the previous year. Half of this was for serials, 32% for books, and 11% on electronic resources.

The average price paid for periodicals has fallen for the second successive year, against the tide of increasing subscription prices. The number of titles held continues to rise dramatically, by more than 25% in the last year. The greatest increase has been in the new universities, where the rise has been more than 33%. This is likely to be due, at least in part, to the increasing popularity of 'bundles' offering large numbers of titles electronically, often at marginal extra cost above the print subscription. It may even be argued that these developments are 'distorting' the data to some extent. Facilitating access to so many additional titles is offers advantages but only if the titles are relevant to a local client base; perhaps the electronic acquisitions model has yet to stabilise.

The number of library staff in higher education libraries continues to rise, with an increase of 12% in 2000-01 to nearly 10,000. This is in sharp contrast to the public library sector. Moreover, the availability of services has increased with a further rise in average opening hours. The average now stands at almost 79 hours per week. New universities have the longest opening hours, and HE colleges the shortest. Provision of IT workstations continues to develop. One quarter of all seats in HE college and new university libraries now have workstations, and in old universities the figure is 16%. There is now an average of 43 FTE students to each workstation over the sector as a whole, compared to an average of 76 five years ago.

There has been a further slight fall in visits to library premises this year, down to 77 per FTE student per year. There is, however, an increase in the number of issues per visit. This evidence suggests that instead of visiting the library for reference use, people are turning to alternative means of finding information, made possible by an increase in the availability of remote access to services through networks. Increasing familiarity with, and use of the Internet and other electronic resources may also be a factor in the falling number of enquiries per FTE student that are recorded. It may be argued, however, that using these sophisticated sources to advantage needs more, rather than less user support and that users are not getting the full benefit from what is available. Performance evidence on the electronic library is still evolving. The number of virtual visits and data on remote use of electronic resources are not yet sufficiently complete or reliable to include in the annual compilation.

LISU annual library statistics 2002: Featuring trend analysis of UK public and academic libraries 1991-2001, Creaser C et al, 196 pages, A4 half Canadian bound, ISBN: 1 901786617 ISSN 0967`487X, Price: Ł35.00, (Postage: UK - nil, Europe - Ł3.30, Rest of World - Ł5.50). Available from LISU Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leics LE11 3TU, Tel: 01509 223071, Fax: 01509 223072, Email: [log in to unmask] and through TeleOrdering.

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Dr Sally Maynard
Research Associate
LISU
Loughborough University
Loughborough
Leicestershire   LE11 3TU

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Tel: +44 (0)1509 222179
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