Following a period of decline, public libraries are regaining popularity with over 900,000 books loaned out last year, which meant a 43 per cent rise over 2014.

The increase has been attributed to the introduction of electronic books, an extensive refurbishment of the collections, more efficient book processing procedures, and an increase in outreach activities to attract young readers.

In total, the public libraries network comprises 56 centres, including 12 in Gozo.

According to the Malta Libraries annual report, in 2017 the number of books loaned reached 910,976, of which 124,634 were from the central public library in Floriana.

During the year under review, new members totalled 5,119. The e-book service which was launched in 2016, continued to grow, with the loans increasing to 4,521.

During the year under review, new members totalled 5,119

The statistics show that use of public libraries has been on the rise for the last four years.

In 2014, the number of loaned books dropped to 637,511, with the decline attributed to the overhaul carried out in the collection and the automated system.

Since then, public libraries have experienced successive increases with the number of loans rising to 777,804 in 2015 and 844,598 in 2016.

An analysis by locality shows that Birkirkara was way ahead in terms of usage, with 112,441 book loans followed by Mosta with 48,765.

The data is heavily skewed in favour of localities having the largest populations. In fact, the smallest localities are bottom of the list with Senglea last with 672 loans which is less than two per day.

The annual report also gave an overview on the National Library.

Last year, a 14 per cent drop was registered in researchers making use of this facility. They totalled 4,660. This drop was reflected in the list of items requested in the reading room which fell to 6,694.

On the other hand, the National Library received a record number of requests for information including through Facebook. It transpires that out of 472 requests received, 239 were from Malta with the rest originating from France (88), Italy (64) and the UK (21).

In line with tradition, newspapers were the most consulted documents, followed by the archives of the Order of Malta and Melitensia items.