A new study finds an eight per cent increase in library usage across the province.
The study was commissioned by the New Brunswick Public Library Service, which wanted a data-driven report regarding usage.
The research was conducted by the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training.
Science writer Bethany Daigle says personally, she was expecting some negative outcomes.
“I assumed people would be taking more of a digital approach to the books they want to read, but no, people are still physically going to their libraries which is great news,” Daigle said.
Daigle believes a large reason for the spike in usage would be the valuable resources provided by provincial librarians.
“The New Brunswick libraries are really evolving the way they interact with the public. While people are still overwhelmingly going to borrow books, we have our local libraries starting to offer new services like summer reading groups for children,” Daigle said.
Southern New Brunswick library usage saw an even larger spike than the rest of the province.
“In the three largest centres — Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton — library use has increased by a whopping 19 per cent. We believe that could be due to the population growth that’s been occurring in the south,” Daigle said.
The research finds despite a lot of technological and social changes in the last decade, New Brunswickers still love traditional libraries.
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