Library visits drop by 10 per cent
Visitor numbers to Shropshire libraries have dropped by more than 100,000 in a year.
There has been a 10.98 per cent reduction in library visitors from last financial year compared to 2016/17.
Last year there were 902,231 visitors compared to 1,013,505 in the year 2016/17.
Labour's Councillor Alan Mosley asked Shropshire Council's cabinet if any measures were in place to reverse the trend.
He said: "Visitors to the libraries are down 11 per cent, are any measures being put in place to reverse that trend?"
Lezley Picton, portfolio holder for culture and leisure, said: "This is a national trend with libraries.
"The number of people visiting libraries is reducing nationally and one we're all struggling to sort.
"But the numbers aren't dropping as fast as some of the other libraries.
"People can download books from libraries digitally from home now too."
Shropshire Council's cabinet formally approved the authority's Library Services Strategy for 2018 to 2023 earlier this year.
It means 'tier one' libraries at Shrewsbury, including at the Lantern, Oswestry, Market Drayton, Whitchurch, Ludlow, and Bridgnorth are safe.
‘Tier two’ libraries at Cleobury Mortimer, Church Stretton, Bishop’s Castle, Ellesmere, Pontesbury, Albrighton, and Wem will now have five years to become cost neutral, and ‘tier three’ libraries at Broseley, Shifnal, Highley, Craven Arms, Much Wenlock, Gobowen, and Bayston Hill, will have to be self-funding within the next three years.
