ABSTRACT

Leicestershire is a mainly rural county which has 54 static libraries. They are organized into three levels: seven major, eight shopping centre and 39 community or village libraries. Coalville was performing below the average for the major libraries on all its performance measures, especially for stock, and its visitors and issues were continuing to decline. Birstall Library is a shopping centre library, serving a population of 12,000. It is in a rapidly growing commuter town. In the Public Library Users Survey over 95 per cent rated the library's attractiveness as good or very good. It has also attracted more community use, such as a regular Internet training course. Enderby is one of 39 community libraries; it serves a village with a population of 6000. It was opened in 1986 and the walls were decorated in orange hessian, with brown carpet and shelves; it has not been decorated since its opening. Leicestershire County Council has a standard look for its libraries.