According to CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), investment in public libraries fell again in 2016.
The figures obtained from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) show that over the past year:
- Total expenditure on library services in Great Britain fell by £25m, from £944m (2014/15) to £919m (2015/16)
- The number of FTE paid library staff fell by 964, from 18,028 (2014/15) to 17,064 (2015/16)
- 67 libraries closed, from 3,917 (2014/15) to 3,850 (2015/16)
- Total visits dropped by 5.5%, from 265 million (2014/5) to 250 million (2015/16)
http://www.cilip.org.uk/news/spending-public-libraries-falls-cilip-calls-urgent-investment