Japan
- Japan had 1985 main libraries and and 994 branch libraries in 2005.
- Nine years earlier the numbers were quite a bit lower: 1794 main and 602 branch libraries.
- There were 17.133 full-time and concurrent (?) staff, and 13.527 part-time staff.
- There were 12.781 librarians and 442 assistant librarians.
- The total number of books was about 340 million.
- Of these 338 million were Japanese and 2.5 million foreign
- Adult books: 257 million
- Children’s books: 83 million
- 197 million on open shelves
- 144 million on non-open shelves
- 19.2 million books were received during the previous year
- There were 32.0 million registered library users during the previous FY
- 581 million books were lent during the previous FY
Calculations
- Population in 2004: 127 million
- Books per inhabitant: 2.7
- Loans per inhabitant: 4.6
- Turnover rate in 2004: 581/340 = 1.71
