The austerity story: How Spain fell in love with books again as locals flood back to libraries

pg-38-spain-books-1-costaMs Cavos points out that as the Las Palomas library’s survival teeters on a knife-edge, and  drastic government recession-induced cuts see dozens of public library spending budgets cut by 60 per cent or more, Spain’s deeply ingrained resistance to reading for pleasure is finally disappearing. In 2003, Spain was one of three EU nations (together with Portugal and Greece) with the lowest average number of regular readers: just 47 per cent (compared to 70 per cent in Scandinavia and the UK) said they read at least one book a year. Now, though, that figure has risen to nearly 60 per cent.

Read the full article @ The Independent.

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