Topical view 
- take a break to consider library issues
Many recent TV and radio reports about declining book issues have done nothing to reduce my frustration at the sometimes self-serving generalisations about library use.
Many of the comments I hear are - at least in my experience - a faulty analysis of what has really been going on.
The number of books issued is a reasonably important library indicator - alongside others - but it has never been a reliable measure of the use or value of a public library service.
Historically even the highest levels of library issues didn’t reflect more than a very respectable percentage of the local population and often the very active readers in that group. This was true even in the “golden age” of library boom and expansion. User numbers haven’t gone down, in fact they have increased, it is the pattern of use that has changed.
One of the fundamental problems with issues – that I haven’t generally heard – is the changing nature and number of items borrowed. Most detailed statistics wouldn’t be available now, but, if you took the average area in England and Wales 20 years ago, I am sure that we would have found the minority accounting for the highest issues read quick and easy romances and similar books. When I first started work the 10 plus mills and boon borrower was common, now that reader is a rare sight.
A “Knit and read” generation represented the backbone of library high issues from the 1940’s to 1990’s, but, sadly age and infirmity has had its effect as it has on other "institutions". Patterns of use have changed rapidly in the 2000s. We now have a genuine TV generation (not just the anticipation of one in the 1950’s) plus the music and DVD generation!
Many readers do choose to buy cheap books, borrow them from friends or buy them in charity shops, the Internet, book clubs and the rest. While that affects libraries by “creaming off” demand and issues for some of the more popular tiles it also helps to promote authors, reading and reduce waiting lists! Active readers have always bought and borrowed.
The point is that in many senses the changes are positive because in one sense or another – even in the pure book lending services - we are often doing as much if not more that is still of real value to the lives of our customers.
Free computer services have also bought us some time and opportunities, but a rich selection of stock remains the main reason for library use and will continue to do so for quite a while yet.
None of this matters as long as customers and inhabitants get what they want and need from their public library service (all the evidence we’ve collected from independent sources suggest that they generally do – although some need a better understanding of what we can do). It is also worth noting that over 30% of library users surveyed since the 1980s don’t borrow books anyway, but use the library for something else!
Positives and things we need to publicise
- It is often simple and easy to extend the loan period - unless an item is needed by someone else.
- We will buy copies of items in high demand to reduce waiting
- Stock can be borrowed and returned using any Merthyr Tydfil Public Library site and a mobile library at the Co-operative Store in Pentrebach on Saturdays from 10 am until 4.00 pm
- You can search for stock, manage your loans and suggest stock from home if you have an Internet connection
- We have many sets and out of print stock
- We can often obtain out of print material if you need it.