In 2023, 2.3 million children and young people were members of the library. In other words: 7 out of 10. That is an increase of 5% compared with 2022. This is according to the annual library statistics published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the KB on September 12.
The number of adult members also grew. The biggest growth in membership was in the age category of 18 to 20 - an increase of 16% compared with 2022. Klaas Gravesteijn, director of the Dutch Public Library Association
(VOB) sees this as a positive sign. "In the past, we saw young people often cancelling their membership after the age of 18, when they have to start paying for an adult subscription. To prevent this, around half of the libraries now offer young people a discount or a free subscription after their 18th birthday. We see libraries now successfully engaging young adults. Young people are attending the activities and are also continuing to borrow a lot of books."
Record number of activities
In addition, libraries organised a record number of activities in 2023: 406,000 - a growth of no less than 32%. A total of 5.1 million people took part in these activities. There was a surge particularly in activities aimed at promoting reading and digital skills among young people. Gravesteijn: "In recent years, libraries have worked hard on important social matters. Promoting reading from as early an age as possible and increasing the digital skills of the Dutch population are key aspects of this. These library figures show that there is a real need of help and activities in this area."
About the annual library figures
Every year, the KB gathers library data as part of its obligations under the Public Library Provisions System Act (Wsob). To that end, it cooperates with the VOB (Dutch Public Library Association), the CBS (Statistics Netherlands) and the SPN (Foundation of Cooperating Provincial Support Institutions). The figures are presented in the form of a dossier, a dashboard and an infographic. The data provision for the Public Library Provisions System Act (Wsob) took place for the 9th time this year.
