The pie charts illustrate the purposes of people visiting the public library in Britain in two years, 1991 and 2000.
Overall, there were significant changes in all categories between two years. In both years, the main reason for people visiting the library was to borrow or return books.
In 1991, 65% of people came to the library to borrow or return books, accounting for the highest proportion among the four groups, despite its reduction to 55% in 2000. The group of people visiting the library to read newspapers or magazines witnessed a significant decrease, falling from 15% in 1991 to 5% in 2000. The percentage of people going to the library to study also fell dramatically, from 10% in 1991 to five times lower in 2000.
In contrast, the obtaining information group saw a sharp increase, doubling from 10% to 20% in 2000. In the same year, a new category of borrowing or returning videos appeared, accounting for 18% of the total.