Shining a Light

The Carnegie UK Trust have released research showing that Scotland has the highest level of public library use in the UK.

‘Shining a Light’ is the Trust’s set of publications showing how people in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales use public libraries and what they think of them.

The publications provide data about levels of use, frequency of library use, people’s attitude to public libraries and what people say would encourage them to make more use of libraries. The research is based on over 10,000 interviews conducted across 2011 and 2016 and was carried out by Ipsos MORI for the Carnegie UK Trust. You can view the key data here.

CILIP in Scotland Director Catherine Kearney said “The ‘Shining a Light’ research report, published less than a month before local government elections, demonstrates clearly that libraries matter to the people of Scotland. Tracked across a five year period within an extremely challenging financial context, the report finds that Scotland maintains the highest level of library use across the UK confirming that our public libraries remain an essential community asset. The high engagement (70%) among households with children reflects the importance and success of initiatives such as ‘Every Child a Library Member’ and early years literacy programmes shows the key role of local public library services in realising policy goals. We note the decline in library usage in Scotland since 2011 and believe this is connected to some library closures and service reductions such as reduced opening hours, book budgets and staffing. The Carnegie report and five point plan should be essential reading for all prospective candidates as we approach election day on May 4th.”