Japan

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
  • Source: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/nenkan/1431-23.htm

Calculations

• Population in 2004: 127 million
• Books per inhabitant: 2.7
• Loans per inhabitant: 4.6
• Turnover rate in 2004: 581/340 = 1.71