Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-11
By: Central News Agency

Libraries are continuing to draw users in Taipei, even in an age where information is instantly available at the press of a button.

Taiwan’s capital actually saw an increase in the number of books lent out in 2015, with Taipei residents on average checking out 5.1 books per year from libraries, according to data from the Taipei Public Library released Jan. 30.

The total number of titles borrowed was 12.98 million, up from 12.79 million in 2014.

Women represented the majority, accounting for 7.19 million, or 55.39 percent, of the books borrowed in 2015. Female readers seemed more active than their male counterparts, but this is not surprising if the gender ratio of library cardholders is similar to the population of Taipei, which is 52.11 percent female.

In terms of age, the most studious demographic was men and women aged 41-50, who checked out 3.46 million titles, followed by men and women aged 31-40 with 2.76 million titles, and young students from grade 1-9 with 1.52 million titles. People under 30 made up a small fraction of library users, likely because of Taiwan’s lowering birth rate over the past three decades.     [FULL  STORY]