Band 6+: The chart below shows the number of items borrowed from public libraries in the UK over the ten-year period from 1995 to 2005. Provide an overview of the information by identifying and describing the key details and include comparisons where appropriate.

The bar chart illustrates the number of items that public libraries lent in the UK between 1995 and 2005

Overall, every sector showed a decrease over the period, which resulted in a plunge of the total of items borrowed from public libraries. Additionally, adult non-fiction was the most attractive item of the community libraries in 1995, before ceding its dominance to top audio-visual materials over the rest of the period.

In 1995, a total of roughly 1,648 million items were borrowed in 1995. Adult non-fiction made up the vast majority, at 1,113 million, followed by top audio-visual materials with 330 million. A much smaller figure is children’s books and adult fiction, with 107 and 98 million. In the next 5 years, the figure of adult non-fiction decreased significantly and lost its monopoly on items borrowed from public libraries to top audio-visual materials, which borrowed 280 million items. Other sectors also showed a stable increase and decrease from 1995 to 2000. So the total items borrowed decreased sharply from 1,648 million to 647 million.

By 2005, the total of items that were lent by public libraries declined to 504 million items. Top audio-visual materials still recorded the most attractive item at 230 million, followed by adult non-fiction with 120 million less. After that, the figure of adult fiction and children’s books depicted the stable decline over the period.