Low spending on books, increased vandalism and poorly sited locations are highlighted in a "warts and all" report on the district's library service.

Despite that the analysis, headed by a top council officer, reveals many users found the service good in the 30 branch libraries, Central Library and three mobile units.

The report, which looks at the service and future plans, has to be submitted for the first time to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

It says Bradford is one of only seven authorities in the country to have a library open for more than 60 hours a week - Bradford Central.

It also points out that Bradford has one of few library services to develop vital initiatives to promote reading.

And the city is one of the major authorities in the provision of material in South Asian languages and provides a subscription to 20 other library services across the country. But the Government will be told the main area of concern is the range of material provided for users.

The report shows the district spent only 81p per head of population on books in 1996-97, compared with an average of £1.92 for other metropolitan authorities and a national average of £2.21.

It points out that apart from Central Library, substantial funding is needed to meet the new technology requirements of users into the new Millennium.

A survey in the city centre on the service showed 77 per cent of people interviewed used the libraries. Of those 87 per cent said the service was good.

But in the past six years there has been a 30 per cent drop in book issues and the decline is continuing at a rate of about eight per cent a year.

Loans of audio visual items are dropping and officers put this down to the fact that more people are buying their equipment because of reduced prices.

The chairman of the Council's leisure committee Councillor Barry Thorne, who said the service had suffered because of 18 years of Tory spending cuts, said: "Some parts of the report are very good, but there is a long way to go."

He said the Council had set aside a further £40,000 to £50,000 to spend on books this year.

Coun John Cole (Baildon, Lib Dem) said: "The poor state of the libraries, the age of the stock and inability to release funds to buy new books have all combined to put people off attending their local lending libraries. The failure to invest in IT is worrying, given the rapid advancements in the last few years.

"Libraries have enormous potential as places of education, but the Council needs to commit capital funds to bring Bradford's libraries up to date."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.