In a statement sent to the Lusa agency, the Proença-a-Nova Town Hall, in the Castelo Branco district, says that "the municipal library registered, in the year 2021, three times more new readers than in each of the five previous years".

"In the last year 64 new readers were registered, largely surpassing the results presented since the end of 2015, the last year in which there was an increase in this number," reads the note.

According to the data made available, of the total number of readers of the Municipal Library of Proença-a-Nova, only 10 percent are between the age group of 0 to 17 years and 7 percent older than 66 years, with the vast majority of readers (83 percent) being of the adult age class.

The municipality also stresses that, due to the impact that the pandemic of Covid-19 caused in the population, "it is also possible to denote fewer people visiting the space, registering a drop of about 1,500 users".

The municipal library has once again had printed newspapers and magazines available for reading, after the exhibition of these items was suspended during the most intense period of the pandemic.

"It [the library] currently has several news items available for loan, updated every month, which can be consulted in person or online," said the local authority.