To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with reference to his Department's press release of 8 November 2007, how many visitors from Europe the British Library attracted in each year since 1997. (166155)

[holding answer 19 November 2007]: The British Library does not collect data specifically on visitors from Europe. It does, however, collect data in a number of specific areas of activity, which indicate the level of European usage of its services:

Exhibition Visits

Exit surveys indicate that the Rest of Europe attendance for the last three British Library exhibitions were: 2006 Front Page 4 per cent. (4,458); 2006 London: A Life in Maps 9 per cent. (11,857) and 2007 Sacred 10 per cent. (20,005).

Website Visits

From market research undertaken during the past three years it is estimated that approximately 15 per cent. of website usage comes from the Rest of Europe. The British Library's current website usage stands at nine million unique hosts per annum, which suggests that approximately 1.35 million users are from the Rest of Europe.