Charlbury Library hugely popular since community centre move

New membership applications at Charlbury Library increased by 44 per cent in its first year in operation, while 2,219 items were issued on Sundays alone.

Meanwhile, since moving to the town's community centre in 2017, the library's self-service machine usage has increased by 65 per cent.

Charlbury is showing the highest rise in issues as a percentage of any library in Oxfordshire.

Graham White, community involvement officer for Oxfordshire Libraries, said: “Oxfordshire Library Service would like to thank the Charlbury community, [centre manager the] Thomas Gifford Trust, the manager Julie Ward, and the volunteers for making such a success of the new library.

"We normally expect a new or refurbished library to see an increase in use, but the huge success of Charlbury Library since the move to the community centre is a real testament to the hard work of all involved, and to the concept of co-locating the library with other local services.”

The library is one of the community centre's many features and sits next to a cafe and a play area.