DCMS have commissioned a comprehensive set of benchmarking reports, for a second year running, which are published today. The reports, produced by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) will help library authorities ensure they are delivering a good level of service and review any areas for improvement.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said:

"We want all our library services to be the best they can, and this set of new and detailed reports will allow local authorities to identify areas for improvement and also look at what other places are doing in terms of service and good practice. Using the information will allow for better services for all library users and those responsible for running them."

Ian Watson, Head of Cultural Services at Lancashire County Council and Chair of the CIPFA Libraries Working Group said:

"I welcome DCMS's decision to fund the publication of all the profiles for the participating English library services and to make them available publicly. The profiles enable library services to assess their own performance against that of similar types of library services, and enable citizens to see how their local library services are performing. As we are all having to make the best of the resources that we have available, it is important to be aware of our performance and our costs and the profiles are an important source of information on both of those."

Please follow the links to view copies of the 2013 profiles and 2012 profiles.

http://www.cipfa.org/services/research-and-statistics/comparative-profiles/public-libraries