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Tuesday 17 January 2012

Facts and Figures (if you like that stuff)

As well as the main document, this time, the council have published a raft of useful raw data. If you like that sort of thing (which I don't). I've tried to distill something useful for Matson library users from it. And here it all is!

The council have published documents online that demonstrate:

Car ownership in Matson is at 67% the equal lowest in the county along with the city centre (which has the central library). This is why when in the last proposals they said everyone would be within twenty minutes [drive] of a library I knew they didn't know Matson.

47% of borrowers at Matson library are 17 or younger. Around 11% of Matson library users are over 65. Which goes to show that even though schools have libraries the public library matters to young people.

The number of people using Matson library over a year seems to have gone up since 2006 (15%) although there has been a dip last year. Perhaps this is due to the uncertainty? The number of books borrowed has gone down (-15%) in the same period. Perhaps people are using the library more for reference because the use of computers at Matson library is low relative to other libraries.

Those who go into the library for homework help are slightly more likely to use the books (51%) than the computers (40%) to support their learning. It seems it really is the books, rather than the PCs that are the focus in Matson library.

Matson library is the cheapest to run in the Gloucester District but the second most expensive per user. This suggests the current site is good value. Tuffley being the most expensive per user in the district. Although they are all within the normal range. There isn't much in it.

If you want to email the county council with your views use this email address:
libraries2012@gloucestershire.gov.uk





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