West Sussex's keen library visitors

Figures produced for the first time show that West Sussex is fourth in an English league table.

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport worked with the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council to produce a report showing how many people used museum and library services in all 353 English local authority areas.

In West Sussex 3,525 residents were asked if they had used their Library service in the last 12 months.

A total of 52% said yes. This places the county fourth '“ behind Warwickshire and Dorset with 52.6%, and Buckinghamshire with 52.7%.

"This information confirms the immense popularity of Libraries in West Sussex," said Brad Watson OBE, County Council Cabinet Member responsible for the Library Service.

"We already knew how successful libraries were in West Sussex '“ a major reason why we have just opened a new and much larger library at Crawley, and seek to make improvements in our 35 other libraries."

The data is intended to help councils understand the variations between people who followed cultural activities, such as Libraries, museums or galleries in the last 12 months, compared with those who took part in sport.