An overview of reader development initiatives in Scottish public libraries and a review of their impact on readers. By Rhona Arthur Assistant Director of the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC).
With pressures increasing on book funds and bad news stories about libraries ever popular with the press, I am here to tell you that rumours of the death of the book are an exaggeration. 23% of the population are still active borrowers and issues are around 30million per year for a population of 5million (wouldn’t a big bank like to have 23% of the population taking 26 of their products per year? SLIC and the public library authorities in Scotland recently carried out an extensive piece of research in reading and library borrowing. The resident’s survey was carried out by postal survey for SLIC by CIFPA. In a survey of nearly 5000, 76.9% responded that they read books regularly and over 50% borrowing from libraries. That is not to say that there are not many things to be done. SLIC, as the independent advisory council is well aware of the problems in falling performance measures and CILIPS as the professional body is concerned about improving staff training and skills.