State of Libraries in the UK: Nearly 180 Public Libraries Closed or Moved to Volunteer Groups Since 2016

Today we are pleased to be sharing our latest story pack on the state of libraries in the UK.
We have found around 180 public libraries have either closed or moved over to volunteer groups since 2016 as services across the country continue to reduce.
More than 2,000 jobs have also been lost since then and nearly 1,000 remaining libraries have reduced their hours.
Our findings have been described as “horrifying” by former children’s laureate Michael Rosen, while several organisations have called on the new government to come up with a strategy to protect the local services.
Isobel Hunter MBE, the chief executive of the Libraries Connected, said the figures “lay bare the scale of the crisis facing public libraries”.
Today we are sharing with you:
This spreadsheet, showing how your council’s library provision has changed since 2016. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

It contains details of every upper-tier local authority in England and shows how many of your libraries have been lost from the statutory provision in your area, how many have moved over to community organisations, how many staff have been lost, how many have had hours reduced and how many books have been lost or stolen at each local authority. A guide to using this sheet can be found in the storypack below. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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It also contains figures showing how many libraries have been lost from the statutory provision at council level in Scotland and Wales and contains national figures for Northern Ireland. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

This storypack contains detailed background, findings and key quotes from interviews with Michael Rosen, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and Libraries Unlimited among others.
It also contains rights of response from several local authorities, the Arts Council and the government.
You can use any of the information in the story pack to write your local versions of the story, including all of the quotes and interviews.
We would ask that you do not use any of the pictures.
As always, please feel free to get in touch with any queries via email: shared.dataunit@bbc.co.uk ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​