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September 28, 2006
Price Waterhouse Cooper review rejected
There is an article in today's edition of the Bookseller which reports that the "Central Buying Consortium" has decided not to join the scheme proposed by Price Waterhouse Cooper and the Government for improving efficiency of procurement of library books.
A Mr Lee Hammond of CBC, which represent about 20 large English councils, is quoted saying that the reason is that "the consortium already achieves the upper end of discounts cited by PwC. "
Mr Hammond's observation is open to question. On this blog earlier in the week I reported the evidence of one library authority which had claimed to its councillors and senior officers and the public that it was achieving "the best discounts available because of its membership of CBC" . Analysis of actual invoices showed that the maximum discount was 35% and more significantly that actual discount achieved across the whole sample was 21.8%
This is neither secret nor confidential. Mr Hammond and his colleagues are buying £12m of library books each year with public money. High discounts, which are available, bring more value for public money in an area in which it is much needed
Readers familiar with the book trade will notice that 35% is not a high level of discount and that book suppliers, being very professional negotiators, are quite able to include lots of exception clauses in an agreement.
I should add that this council is by no means exceptional. In every council in which I have worked there has been no system that measures and reports actual discount achieved on book purchases, and when I have taken samples in order to find out, the achieved discount is much less than that which appears in any library document. Moreover, my experience is that the discounts achieved by CBC are hardly different to those achieved by individual councils.
If only PwC had included some facts and details in their study, these matters could be addressed.
The article is below
Consortiums reject library supply overhaul
Plans to overhaul the library supply chain suffered a major setback this week, after the UK’s largest public library buying consortium, Central Buying Consortium, said it would not be joining the scheme.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had proposed the establishment of a central contracting agency by 2008, supported by up to 10 regional serving “hubs”. The move followed recommendations by PricewaterhouseCoopers, and aimed to help the sector use its scale to gain bigger discounts from publishers. The MLA predicted that the structure would cost between £4.5m and £7m to set up, and would save £22m a year if all 149 English library authorities came on board.
But the CBC, which represents a quarter of the authorities, said in a letter to the MLA that it plans to renew its existing wholesale contracts into 2009, because it thinks the proposed structure may cause it to lose money. The MLA has no statutory power over local authorities and depends on them to come on board.
Lee Hammond, CBC spokesman and head of procurement for West Sussex county council, said the consortium already achieved the upper end of the discounts cited by PwC, “and could exceed that when the contracts are extended”.
The organisation said in its letter to the MLA that the new structure was likely to make book purchasing more rather than less expensive for CBC members, as servicing, transport and distribution costs would no longer be subsidised by suppliers.
“There are additional costs associated with the regional hubs . . . that may well make the model more expensive than our current arrangements,” it said. “We have no other business option than to proceed in this way [because] members cannot afford to lose the benefits that they enjoy currently.”
katherine.rushton@bookseller.co.uk
Posted by Tim Coates at September 28, 2006 9:15 PM
Comments
Tim, Just to prove that Libraries throughout the "civilised" world can have their internal problems
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=5470885
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Some people who live in Lewisburg are upset that the local library has bought some children's books which tell stories in Spanish.
At a meeting of the Marshall County Memorial Library board, an eighth grade social studies teacher said if one penny has been spent on Spanish language books, it's too much. Teacher Robin Minor said Tuesday he thinks a lot of county commissioners will be interested to learn of the expense. A few others also spoke against providing books not printed in English.
Asked how much of the library's 13-thousand-dollar public appropriation went to buy the books, a library official said the total was about 130 dollars. The board also told objectors the shelves held books in Japanese, Russian, Polish and French. Protesters responded that those books shouldn't be there either.
Posted by: Clive Keeble at September 30, 2006 11:55 AM