Lm17m spent on publications

The private sector spent over Lm17 million on books, newspapers and magazines last year, an increase of 34 per cent from Lm13 million in 1993, according to figures released by the National Statistics Office.

By contrast the importation of printed material last year stood at 3.9 million items, a drop of 14 per cent over the previous year. At the turn of the century, these imports totalled 6.3 million items.

It is interesting to note that another NSO survey released in March 2002 revealed that 56 per cent of those sampled said they had not read a single book in one year and a staggering 44 per cent said they did not even bother to read a magazine.

As part of World Book Day celebrations yesterday, the NSO delved into the imports of printed matter; the amount Maltese spent on printed material; public library acquisitions; loans and membership and a profile of the Maltese publishing scene.

The NSO insisted that while it was making no claims of comprehensiveness for these figures, it believed it painted a very adequate picture of this industry.

An interesting statistic which emerged is that nearly 229,000 books were borrowed last year from the seven regional libraries across the island, a substantial increase of 69 per cent over 1998.

Branch library lending in Gozo has also seen an upsurge with over 48,000 books loaned last year, as against some 34,000 books the previous year.

On the other hand, book purchases by the Public Library system went down by 37 per cent over the six-year period between 1998 and 2003. This was offset by a handsome increase in book donations, which more than tripled.

On the subject of publications, the state, government departments and related bodies emerged as the most prolific publisher in Malta, making up a hefty 36 per cent of the surveyed published output last year.

Commercial publications last year constituted 26 per cent, while a sizeable proportion of print material - 11 per cent - was published by the authors.

Maltese was the language of 56 per cent of publications, while English accounted for 38 per cent.

With regard to the literary genre, children's fiction dominated, with 24 per cent of commercially published output, closely followed by publications relating to all aspects of Maltese culture with 23 per cent.