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Based on his recent US experience and before he attends the ALA Conference, Tim Coates has sent me the following observations which may be of interest. He is happy that these are circulated: The first is that in the US library use and book lending continue to increase every year. They have never stopped - even though there have been population changes, budget cyclical increases and cuts, rise and fall of bookstores, and developments in technology as there have been here. . This is a marked contrast with the UK where those library figures have fallen consistently for 25 years - as we have watched. We don't know why the UK library service has consistently declined - no one has ever analysed the reason - and that I believe that any 'study' (such as the Sieghart review) has to provide a convincing analysis of precisely that problem, before it can propose a solution (increased use has to be a clear target). Such a study also has to show an understanding of how the service is managed so that any recommendations for improvement can be implemented in a way that those of the previous 30 studies since 1999, have failed to do The second is more specifically in the field in which I am working which is ebooks. The first observation is that the kind of ebooks which are being read in large quantity are precisely those which are normally loaned out by libraries - fiction, in all its genres, but particularly, romance, thrillers, historical fiction, science fiction, etc. - and not illustrated nonfiction etc . Therefore one would expect libraries to have a larger take up of ebook use, than the norm. In fact this isn't happening at all - and there is no sign of it. This article in PW below is rather cheerily optimistic- but it does list the problems . The worry is that if libraries continue to get left behind in the progress of ebooks, then effectively their reading role will be largely taken over by Amazon (and its competitors) in the same way that the much of the library function of providing useable information has been taken over by Google http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/62991-what-s-next-for-e-books-in-libraries.html tim Frances Hendrix Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs, PR6 7QR Tel: 01257 274 833. Mobile: 0777 55 888 03