§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is his estimate of the number of books lent 295W out of public libraries during the last convenient 12 months.
§ Mr. CroslandThe last published estimate of books lent by public libraries in the United Kingdom is that of the Library Association for 1961–62 of 460 millions. There is evidence of an appreciable increase since that date, and I estimate that, on a basis comparable to that used for the 1961–62 calculation, the total number of books lent during 1964–65 is likely to be in the region of 500 millions.