ATTENDANCE
Attendance Survey
According to the Survey of Attendance at Selected Culture and Leisure Venues and Events, some 5.5 million people (34% of the population aged 15 years and over) visited a national, state or local library at least once in the 12 months before interview in 2005-06.
While the attendance rates for males and females at state and national libraries were similar, local libraries were more likely to attract females (with an attendance rate of 40%) than males (25%).
10.1 ATTENDANCE AT PUBLIC LIBRARIES, By sex - 2005-06 |
|
 | Males | Females | Persons |
NUMBER ('000) |
|
| Local libraries | 1 990.5 | 3 228.7 | 5 219.2 |
| National and state libraries | 403.5 | 497.6 | 901.1 |
| Total who attended(a) | 2 108.7 | 3 345.8 | 5 454.5 |
ATTENDANCE RATE (%) |
|
| Local libraries | 25.2 | 39.8 | 32.6 |
| National and state libraries | 5.1 | 6.1 | 5.6 |
| Total who attended(a) | 26.7 | 41.2 | 34.1 |
|
| (a) Components do not add to the total as some persons attended both types of libraries. |
| ABS, Survey of Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events, 2005-06, data available on request. |
The attendance rate at national and state libraries was highest for people aged 18-24 years (10%), with the next highest rate being 6% for 45-54 and 55-64 year olds. For local libraries, the survey results showed that the highest attendance rate was for the age group 15-17 years (44%), followed by the 35-44 years age group (36%).
10.2 ATTENDANCE AT PUBLIC LIBRARIES, By age - 2005-06 |
|
| AGE GROUP (YEARS) | |
| 15-17 | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65-74 | 75 and over | Total |
NUMBER ('000) |
|
| Local libraries | 361.9 | 586.3 | 867.6 | 1 078.1 | 889.6 | 649.0 | 457.3 | 329.4 | 5 219.2 |
| National and state libraries | 38.9 | 193.3 | 148.4 | 132.2 | 168.3 | 131.0 | 61.9 | 27.1 | 901.1 |
| Total who attended(a) | 374.6 | 656.2 | 910.0 | 1 105.3 | 934.2 | 671.0 | 465.8 | 337.5 | 5 454.5 |
ATTENDANCE RATE (%) |
|
| Local libraries | 44.2 | 30.2 | 31.2 | 36.4 | 32.0 | 29.3 | 33.0 | 29.1 | 32.6 |
| National and state libraries | 4.8 | 10.0 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 5.6 |
| Total who attended(a) | 45.8 | 33.9 | 32.7 | 37.3 | 33.6 | 30.3 | 33.6 | 29.9 | 34.1 |
|
| (a) Components do not add to the total as some persons attended both types of libraries. |
| ABS, Survey of Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events, 2005-06, data available on request. |
Unlike several of the other cultural institutions, public libraries regularly attract repeat visitors. Only 5% of those who visited a library did so on one occasion. Almost one half (46%) of those who had visited public libraries had been more than 10 times during the 12-month reference period, with over half of those going more than 20 times.
Those in the older age groups were more likely to make multiple return visits. Around one-third (34%) of those aged 75 years and over who visited public libraries went 26 times or more during the 12-month period.
10.3 Frequency of attendance at public libraries - 2005-06 |
|
| Sex | Age group (years) | |
| Number of visits in the last 12 months | Males | Females | 15-17 | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65-74 | 75
and
over | Total |
NUMBER ('000) |
|
| Once | 149.6 | 117.2 | *18.1 | *49.0 | 56.0 | 45.0 | *33.1 | 36.4 | 16.0 | *13.3 | 266.8 |
| Twice | 252.0 | 274.6 | *31.9 | 93.8 | 116.5 | 104.4 | 84.0 | 59.2 | 21.2 | *15.5 | 526.5 |
| Three times | 175.3 | 217.3 | *12.7 | 62.2 | 69.7 | 93.0 | 79.1 | 34.0 | 25.9 | 16.1 | 392.6 |
| Four times | 158.1 | 236.4 | *21.5 | 44.3 | 67.1 | 101.1 | 82.3 | 44.7 | 22.3 | *11.3 | 394.5 |
| Five times | 135.4 | 210.4 | *31.6 | *48.5 | 92.7 | 70.5 | 63.4 | *19.4 | *10.9 | *8.7 | 345.8 |
| 6-10 times | 344.7 | 666.4 | 77.1 | 117.9 | 160.1 | 224.4 | 200.8 | 116.0 | 75.2 | 39.4 | 1 011.1 |
| 11-15 times | 309.6 | 570.8 | *35.9 | 67.3 | 123.4 | 209.5 | 146.1 | 121.8 | 107.8 | 68.7 | 880.4 |
| 16-20 times | 91.7 | 172.6 | *19.1 | 30.6 | 36.6 | 50.4 | 48.1 | 33.7 | 27.7 | *18.1 | 264.3 |
| 21-25 times | 116.0 | 152.8 | *24.0 | *7.3 | 50.9 | 40.1 | 43.1 | 41.2 | 30.7 | 31.5 | 268.9 |
| 26 times or more | 376.3 | 727.4 | 102.6 | 135.3 | 136.9 | 166.8 | 154.2 | 164.6 | 128.2 | 115.1 | 1 103.7 |
| Total | 2 108.7 | 3 345.8 | 374.6 | 656.2 | 910.0 | 1 105.3 | 934.2 | 671.0 | 465.8 | 337.5 | 5 454.5 |
PER CENT (%) |
|
| Once | 7.1 | 3.5 | *4.8 | *7.5 | 6.2 | 4.1 | *3.5 | 5.4 | 3.4 | *3.9 | 4.9 |
| Twice | 12.0 | 8.2 | *8.5 | 14.3 | 12.8 | 9.4 | 9.0 | 8.8 | 4.6 | *4.6 | 9.7 |
| Three times | 8.3 | 6.5 | *3.4 | 9.5 | 7.7 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 5.1 | 5.6 | 4.8 | 7.2 |
| Four times | 7.5 | 7.1 | *5.7 | 6.8 | 7.4 | 9.1 | 8.8 | 6.7 | 4.8 | *3.3 | 7.2 |
| Five times | 6.4 | 6.3 | *8.4 | *7.4 | 10.2 | 6.4 | 6.8 | *2.9 | *2.3 | *2.6 | 6.3 |
| 6-10 times | 16.3 | 19.9 | 20.6 | 18.0 | 17.6 | 20.3 | 21.5 | 17.3 | 16.1 | 11.7 | 18.5 |
| 11-15 times | 14.7 | 17.1 | *9.6 | 10.3 | 13.6 | 19.0 | 15.6 | 18.2 | 23.1 | 20.4 | 16.1 |
| 16-20 times | 4.3 | 5.2 | *5.1 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.9 | *5.4 | 4.8 |
| 21-25 times | 5.5 | 4.6 | *6.4 | *1.1 | 5.6 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 6.1 | 6.6 | 9.3 | 4.9 |
| 26 times or more | 17.8 | 21.7 | 27.4 | 20.6 | 15.0 | 15.1 | 16.5 | 24.5 | 27.5 | 34.1 | 20.2 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
|
| * estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution |
| ABS, Survey of Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events, 2005-06, data available on request. |
Public Libraries Survey
While the Survey of Attendance at Selected Culture and Leisure Venues and Events cannot give a figure for the total number of visits to public libraries, this figure can be obtained from a survey of these institutions conducted by the ABS which found that in 2003-04 there were 104.7 million visits, the vast majority (95%) of which were to local government libraries.
The institutions covered by the 2003-04 Public Libraries Survey comprise local government libraries, national and state libraries and archival service organisations in Australia. Libraries with restricted access, such as those operated by educational institutions (universities and schools), and libraries operated by businesses and organisations for internal reference purposes, were excluded from the collection.
The Public Libraries Survey also reported that national and state archives attracted 137,400 visits to their search rooms and recorded a total of 245,100 archival enquiries during 2003-04.
10.4 National and State archives(a), Visits and enquiries - 1999-2000 and 2003-04 |
|
| 1999-2000 | 2003-04 |
| '000 | '000 |
|
| Visits to search rooms | 94.2 | 137.4 |
| Recorded archival enquiries(b) | 218.4 | 245.1 |
|
| (a) Excludes national and state library archives |
| (b) Figures for archival enquiries are approximations only. State libraries do not keep separate counts of archival and general enquiries. |
| ABS, Public Libraries, Australia, 2003-04 (cat. no. 8561.0). |
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