House of Lords written question – answered at on 2 July 2012.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many public libraries have been closed since the formation of the coalition Government, including those now run on a volunteer basis; and how many have been opened.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many public libraries were closed in each year since 1980, including those now run on a volunteer basis, and how many have been opened.
Central government do not produce data on the number of public libraries that have been closed or opened each year. Data about the public library sector are published annually by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). Their annual statistics do not provide the number of openings or closures, or the number of libraries that have transferred from the public library service to community-management; but instead show the net figure of public libraries open in each year.
Data showing the number of public library service points in England, in each available year since 1979-80, are set out in the table below.
Financial year | Libraries open 10+ hrs per week (incl. mobiles) | Libraries open <10 hrs per week (incl. mobiles) | Total Libraries |
1979-80 | 3,646 | 265 | 3,911 |
1980-81 | 3,578 | 252 | 3,830 |
1981-82 | 3,584 | 235 | 3,819 |
1982-83 | 3,598 | 241 | 3,839 |
1983-84 | 3,603 | 207 | 3,810 |
1984-85 | 3,526 | 212 | 3,738 |
1985-86 | 3,572 | 190 | 3,762 |
1986-87 | 3,429 | 203 | 3,632 |
1987-88 | 3,500 | 220 | 3,720 |
1988-89 | 3,416 | 178 | 3,594 |
1989-90 | 4,161 | 417 | 4,578 |
1990-91 | 3,660 | 161 | 3,821 |
1991-92 | 3,650 | 154 | 3,804 |
1992-93 | 3,640 | 142 | 3,782 |
1993-94 | 3,630 | 144 | 3,774 |
1994-95 | 3,628 | 145 | 3,773 |
1995-96 | 3,609 | 124 | 3,733 |
1996-97 | 3,572 | 120 | 3,692 |
1997-98 | 3,532 | 121 | 3,653 |
1998-99 | 3,504 | 150 | 3,654 |
1999-00 | 3,501 | 132 | 3,633 |
2000-01 | 3,497 | 130 | 3,627 |
2001-02 | 3,504 | 115 | 3,619 |
2002-03 | 3,510 | 91 | 3,601 |
2003-04 | 3,524 | 80 | 3,604 |
2004-05 | 3,474 | 96 | 3,570 |
2005-06 | 3,500 | 73 | 3,573 |
2006-07 | 3,494 | 86 | 3,580 |
2007-08 | 3,469 | 96 | 3,565 |
2008-09 | 3,451 | 91 | 3,542 |
2009-10 | 3,428 | 73 | 3,501 |
2010-11 | 3,393 | 76 | 3,469 |
Where information has not been supplied by authorities for CIPFA's Public Library Statistics, the figures have been grossed by CIPFA to account for missing data and-or non-responding authorities.
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