Thirty-nine local governments in Japan stopped providing "mobile library" services in the three-year period up to fiscal 2000, according to a study released by the Japan Library Association.

Their demise was caused by declining use of the mobile libraries and hard financial times at local governments, said the study, made available to Kyodo News on Saturday.

The public borrowed about 15 million books from mobile libraries across the country last year, down from 21 million books 10 years ago, it said.

Other causes cited were complaints that the large vehicles caused traffic jams and that the number of parks and other places that can accommodate the book-laden vehicles is dropping.

Thirty-nine municipalities in 21 prefectures canceled the service, including seven in Tokyo and four in Kanagawa Prefecture.

The number of mobile libraries around the country from fiscal 1998 through fiscal 2000 fell by 21 and now stands at 676 units.

On the other hand, municipalities in Shiga, Oita and other prefectures restarted the system, offsetting some of the decline, the study says.

"Mobile libraries are still popular in rural areas where many older people live and areas that do not have a sufficient number of libraries in comparison to their populations," an association official said.

"Mobile libraries have come to play a lesser role because the number of users has decreased, mainly due to the shrinking youth population," he said.

The Kochi Prefectural Government-run library launched the first mobile library in 1948 to provide equal access to residents who did not live close to libraries.

Other local governments followed suit, with 626 local governments and groups operating a record 697 such libraries in fiscal 1997.