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May 14, 2008
Remove public libraries from the control of national and local government
The Booksellers (and Publishers) association met in Brighton this week. This is from the report in Publishing News
Charkin’s plea
AT THE SESSION on library partnerships, Bloomsbury's Richard Charkin spoke passionately from the floor about the "absurd politicking of public libraries" in recent years.
"It costs £700,000 a year to run some public libraries where only £3-4,000 is spent on books," he said. "Even if it was double that, it's an absurdly low amount. Libraries are the best placed to reach the widest range of communities. Let's kick the politicians into touch on this issue
There are other ways of running a body of this kind-- the BBC is an example. I think that is a good idea worth exploring.
Posted by Perkins at May 14, 2008 10:26 AM
Comments
I got the maths a bit wrong but I'm certain the principle is right. Far too much is spent on overheads, consultants etc and not enough on books.
Posted by: Richard at May 14, 2008 10:41 AM
Richard, Thank you-- You are not so wrong. In the area where you live the average cost of operating a library is over one million pounds per site (and most of them are not very good, either in terms of appearance or opening hours). At the same time around 4-5% of the money you pay for the public libraries, as a local taxpayer, is spent on books.
You should ask the council for the detail.
Posted by: perkins at May 14, 2008 11:03 AM