Brent Libraries First Half Performance

I have got into the habit of tracking Brent Library figures here, so it seems like a good time to look at the half year performance.

Up to the end of September, we had 751,850 visits compared to 680,333 in the same period in the previous year.  That is an increase of 10%.  The book loan figures have more modest growth.  The year so far had 485,949 loans, compared to 483,073, growth of 0.6%.

There is a case that both these measures are rather old fashioned and we need to find different benchmarks.  For instance, it has been true for a very long time that many people access libraries not to borrow books but to use computers.  It is also true that many people use Brent Library services without actually going into a physical library.  Brent Library users can now search the catalogue, borrow books, read periodicals, and borrow ebooks without setting foot in an actual library.  This makes the traditional footfall measure much less useful than it once was.