DECEMBER was Old Town’s least literate month, with just 310 books checked out from the Devizes Road public library.

It is possible that redecoration works, which closed the library for a number of days at the end of the year, hit loan numbers. In December, 66 adult fiction books were signed out – and 211 children’s books. 

The loan figures, shared at a meeting of South Swindon Parish Council’s leisure committee meeting this week, show a familiar borrowing pattern.

Unsurprisingly, August was the most popular month for the library – with 557 books checked out over the school holidays. 

However, Chris Watts, chairman of South Swindon Parish Council, said that the figures did not get across the popularity of the library. 

He said: “The data doesn’t reflect the usage, for example on Thursday I was in there talking to the librarian and she said there were 70 children from a primary school going in there to use it for story time. There’s events like that going on all the time, where they regularly have 20-25 kids in there.”

South Swindon Parish Council took responsibility for the library in September last year. 

In December, the children’s area of the library was renovated – with wall decorations designed by Old Town-based children’s illustrator Fred Blunt.