THE most borrowed book in Bolton Central Library is . . .

Life in the United Kingdom; Official Citizenship Test Study Guide.

And of the top 10 books borrowed from the library since June 2010, three were guides to becoming a UK citizen.

The test itself is computer based and is one of the requirements for anyone seeking Indefinite Leave to remain in the UK or naturalisation as a British citizen.

It contains questions such as: “In which two places does the European Parliament meet?”, “How many parliamentary constituencies are there?” and “true or false, Ulster Scots is a dialect which is spoken in Northern Ireland?”

The council said one of the reasons the books may be popular at the Central Library is because it also hosts English language classes.

Other books popular at the Central Library included the official DSA theory test, which was in second place, and popular because the library also hosts an online theory test simulation.

In fourth place was Swedish crime thriller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which has also been made into a film in its native country and remade as a Hollywood blockbuster starring Daniel Craig.

And month by month lending shows borrowing across all libraries has been dominated by children’s literature, prompted by the summer reading challenge, a national initiative which Bolton takes part in.

Bolton Council ’s Cabinet member for culture, Cllr Chris Peacock, said: “These statistics are just a brief snapshot of certain people’s reading habits in Bolton.

“If you look at our top 10 titles for the same period you will see that Stieg Larsson is just as popular with Bolton’s library users as it is elsewhere, coming in a very close fourth.

“We also have a lot of children’s books that are popular across all our libraries which is to be expected during the summer holidays. The library service encourages children to enhance their reading during this time with the summer reading challenge, which involves participants reading a number of books and taking part in a host of fun activities.”