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October 29, 2008
The library figures still tell a sad story
Here is a good piece by Alison Flood in the Guardian.
It is interesting to look back at the figures for individual councils over recent years. There have been several which have briefly increased their expenditure on stock and it nearly always has the effect of increasing book issues. Yet few of them can keep it up in a sustained way. That is why the real issue is long term planning of the allocation of the funds. Very few councils, up until now, have experienced serious long term cuts in overall spending, as Bob Mckee implies in his quote-- he just needs to look at the data properly.
One serious matter that should emerge when the full tables are published, is the extent of fall in book buying in the libraries in London. Aside from a handful of councils the remainder seem almost to have given up on buying books. That is very worrying.
Posted by Perkins at October 29, 2008 10:40 PM