SWINDON'S libraries are more popular with bookworms than ever before, new figures have revealed.

The number of visits to libraries have increased in the town from 4,599 per 1,000 people in 2002/03 to 5,719 per 1,000 in 2003/04.

The number of inquiries about books or information has jumped from 913 per 1,000 people to 1,090 per 1,000.

Meanwhile, the amount of books, CDs and DVDs borrowed at the 17 libraries in the Swindon local authority area has bucked the national trend and also

increased jumping by six per cent between 2002 and 2005.

Jemima Milton, the cabinet member for arts and culture at Swindon Council, said: "It is great Swindon has bucked the national trend.

"Our libraries continue to be popular and well used. There are many reasons for this, including free computer use and use of the internet, more paperbacks and DVDs available and the introduction of console games."

The figures from the Chartered Institute Of Public Finance and Accountancy show there was an estimated 1.03 million visits to Swindon libraries in the last year equivalent to 18,505 each week.

However, the number of active borrowers in the town has shrunk by 2,964, even though the libraries are being used more.

In 2002/03 there were 66,914 active borrowers but a year later they had fallen to 63,950.

Visits to libraries across the country shot up for the first time in nearly a decade in 2002-03.

Then, there were an additional five million visits in what was the first upturn since the early 1990s.

Before 2002/03, visit numbers since 1995 had been falling by several million a year.

However, book borrowing rates in the UK have shrunk by 5.5 per cent because of increased internet access and audio books.

Mark Hookkham