ELECTRONIC books have opened a new chapter for Hampshire libraries with loans increasing by 67 per cent over the past year.

More than 5,000 e-books and e-audios are checked-out every month, making the county council the busiest online library service in the country.

But the number of printed books borrowed fell by 0.3 per cent in 2011-12 and by 37 per cent compared with nine years ago.

About 6.4 million books were issued by Hampshire’s libraries in 2011-12 compared with 10.2 million in 2002-3.

Hampshire County Council said the figures reflected a change in the way people use libraries.

E-books loans were introduced in 2009 as electronic readers and mp3 players transformed the way some people read books. The library service provides access to 34,000 e-book titles.

But library chiefs said there is still a demand for books on shelves, particularly children’s books with a 15 per cent increase in loans last year.

Nicola Horsey, head of library services at the county council, said: “We are now planning to spend more money on children’s books during 2012-13 and we are looking to increase the size of some of our children’s libraries as well to reflect the increase in demand.”

County chiefs say the number of people using libraries is steadily increasing.

There were more than 6.3 million visits in 2011-12 up five per cent on the previous year.