FOOTFALL at Glasgow’s reopened libraries has fallen drastically on past years, new figures show.
A host of city venues have experienced a drop in punters since being given the greenlight to open their doors with reduced hours.
This includes Ibrox Library, on Midlock Street, which saw a near 90% fall in traffic between August and September this year compared to an average between 2017 and 2019.
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Councillor Jon Molyneux, who represents Pollokshields, said: “It’s clear that despite the efforts Glasgow Life has made to safely reopen some libraries, there’s still massive unmet demand across the city.
“Coronavirus restrictions will be having a big impact on that. However it’s also very difficult for some people to access facilities, either because they’re not available locally, or because of the reduced opening hours.
"This underlines why it’s so important Glasgow Life engages now with local communities about how services can be made available in ways which meet their needs.”
Figures revealed to the Glasgow Times following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show at each reopened venue there was a fall in football.
Dennistoun Library welcomed 1494 people through the door in September compared to a past average of 5872; in the Gorbals there was a drop of 7714 during the same time period; Partick Library fell from 11,644 to 2753; Pollokshaws experienced a fall of 7257; while finally numbers in Shettleston dropped from 6183 to 2001.
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A spokesman for Glasgow Life said: “Since July, 11 Glasgow Libraries have re-opened to the public across the city. All are operating at reduced capacity with much shorter opening hours to help us meet current guidelines while many of the organisations that use libraries to deliver their services have been unable to restart.
"We have welcomed over 7400 new library members since lockdown began and there has been a huge surge in demand for e-book and audiobook downloads which have more than doubled in the last year.”
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