The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has released its "Library Statistics" for 2024, according to the data, as of the end of last year, 44,829 libraries were operating across the country, including the Presidential Nation’s Library and the National Library, 1,301 public libraries, 637 university libraries and 42,889 libraries in formal and non-formal educational institutions.
The number of books at the Presidential National Library increased by 3.2% in 2024, reaching 2,613,965. Compared to 2023, the number of books at the National Library rose by 8.3% to 1,829,534. University libraries increased by 3.5% to 22,420,099, while public libraries saw a 3.6% increase to 25,082,260. In contrast, libraries at educational institutions experienced a 5.4% decrease, with the total dropping to 65,227,096 books.
The number of people benefiting from public libraries increased by 15.4% last year compared to the previous year, reaching 38,737,705. The number of registered members at public libraries also rose by 8.6%, totaling 6,726,993.
Of the university libraries across Türkiye, 487 belong to public universities and 150 to foundation (private) universities.
The number of e-books in university libraries grew by 6% over the previous year, reaching 125,428,957. Meanwhile, the number of registered users at these libraries increased by 2% to 4,282,978. However, the number of non-book materials fell by 4.1% to 1,594,486.
Last year, a total of 73,482 books were published in Türkiye. However, the total number of published materials declined by 6.5% compared to 2023, falling to 92,595. When categorized by content, 21.4% of the published materials were academic, 21.3% were adult fiction literature and 19.4% were educational resources.
