After years of library membership declining and fears that the public no longer wanted to borrow books, some institutions are reporting a spike in interest since they started to offer e-books.
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Tony Durcan, former president of The Society of Chief Librarians, said: "Book issues have seriously declined in recent years.
"This is an exciting development. These are not going to replace the paper book, they are as well as."
He pointed out that e-books were not only cheaper, because of the lack of wear and tear and thefts, but they also offered great opportunities for older housebound readers. That is because with most devices you can enlarge the font size to as large as you like, which will help people with failing eyesight.
Newcastle, where he is chief librarian, is considering buying some e-book reading devices to lend to older, housebound residents.
According to the department of Culture, Media and Sport, annual visits to the library have declined from 302 million a decade ago to 280 million, with the decline in book loans far sharper.
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