The number of people signing up to start loaning books from public libraries dropped by nearly 40% in 2021, when compared to the previous year.
According to national data, there were 3,435 new members last year, down from the 5,641 new members registered in 2020. In 2019, there were 6,071 new members.
And while two out of every three new members in 2020 were aged under 13, this dropped to slightly over 50% last year.
The National Statistics Office provides no explanation, in its release, as to what caused the drop in new members, but notes that the data should be interpreted in the context of the COVID pandemic.
Public libraries were closed between March 30 and June 25 of 2020. The following year, while no libraries were closed, they all operated on restricted schedules during the first and second quarters of the year.
Loans increased
However, it's not all bad news: despite the drop in new members, loans slightly increased in 2021.
The total books loaned in 2021 amounted to 621,202 an increase of 3,382 loans - or 0.5 per cent.
Book acquisitions also went up by 4.6 per cent, reaching 38,379.
The recovery in book acquisitions was mainly attributed to the growth in eBooks, which increased from 2,350 in 2020, to 4,948 in 2021.
Gozo, Southern Harbour with largest increase in loans
Public libraries in Gozo and the Southern Harbour district registered the largest increase in book loans, while those in the Northern Harbour and South Eastern districts continued to see a decline.
In Gozo, the public libraries at Victoria and Nadur were the busiest, with a total of 19,718 and 31,737 loaned books respectively.
These numbers however still shy away from the number of books loaned in pre-pandemic years: in 2019 a total of 25,469 books were loaned in Victoria, and over 46,500 in Nadur.
Imports and exports
According to data from the International Trade Statistics imports and exports of printed book material and periodicals fell last year.
Imports dropped by 21.5 per cent while exports dropped by 18.3 per cent.