Norwich library most popular in UK for seventh year running despite cuts

Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library has had more visits and lent more books than any other library in the region and in the UK for the seventh year running, according to the latest UK library survey issued by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).

This achievement comes despite the fact that the East of England region underwent the second highest percentage drop in spending on libraries in the country with a 9.1% drop in 2012-13 compared to 2011-12.

Norfolk and Norwich Millennium had 1,273,416 visits in 2012-13 almost 300,000 more than Brighton’s Jubilee Library which came second with 974,890 visits. It also came top for the number of items issued with 1,159,262 against the second placed Hive in Worcester which issued 732,401 items in the year. Cambridge Central library also featured in the top 10 libraries for both visits (778,492) and issues (581,506).

Speaking on the figures Drew Cullen, CIPFA’s Director of Communications said:

“Norfolk and Norwich’s Millennium library continues its impressive record of being the most visited public library in the country and the biggest lender.”

Speaking on the UK wide data released today by CIPFA on libraries in the UK, CIPFA’s Chief Executive Rob Whiteman said: 

“Local authorities across the UK have worked hard over the past few years to identify savings and reduce their spending but now also seem to be looking at new ways of keeping their libraries open to the public.

“Given the continuing squeeze on budgets it suggests local authorities are working extremely hard to protect these important services.

“While the number of libraries and staff has fallen again, this has slowed. However the surge in volunteer numbers would suggest that libraries are searching for new ways to engage and serve their communities.”

Notes to Editors:

1. Headline figures from the latest CIPFA library statistics are available from www.cipfastats.net, with the full dataset available to subscribers.

2. For national library data from CIPFA please see the national press notice here:

http://www.cipfa.org/about-cipfa/press-office/latest-press-releases/cipfa-library-survey-shows-closures-slowing-visitor-numbers-falling-but-volunteers-soaring

3. Popularity is defined in relation to the number of visits to the library and the number of stock issues.

4. Library statistics:

*Please note, where statistics have been shown in '000s, they have been rounded to the nearest thousand. Therefore, in some instances figures might not add down to totals. Percentage differences are based on the rounded totals.

5. The busiest libraries in the UK are:

Top 20 by number of visits per annum   

Top 20 by number of issues per annum         

6: Staff and volunteer numbers:

Analysis of Staff and Volunteers in UK libraries

These figures are based on returns to the CIPFA Public Library Actuals survey 2012-13.

* The CIPFA survey asks for the library with the most visits and also the library with the most issues in a year, therefore only one library can qualify per authority. There is a small possibility that one authority could have a second library that would appear in the top 20 libraries.  E.g. Colchester in Essex is the most visited library is Essex, however Chelmsford has higher issues, so if Colchester has >380,000 issues per annum it will still not be included in the above top 20.