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April 6, 2009
Birmingham -- £193m for the architects, but nothing for books
Politicians and government employees all get very excited at spending the taxpayers money-- the more they spend, the cleverer they think they are.
However large buildings are expensive to run, and almost inevitably those councils which have indulged in these great monuments to their civic achievement have quickly run into trouble in the following years of mundane budgeting. Book stocks are cut, branch and community libraries close, and opening hours are reduced. Sometimes the main library is a success, but not always, but more often than not, the collateral damage is long term and serious.
Nevertheless for years to come the party in power, and the government departments, will keep telling us how great an investment they have made.
The £193 million for Birmingham library is all for the buildig. There is nothing for new books.
Another case where the minister should intervene and quietly, in my view, ask the council to redress this balance properly.
In my evidence to the Select Committee in 2004 I said that small sensible ministerial interventions and discussions would be as useful as large scale inquiries of the kind we are to see in the Wirral.
Posted by Perkins at April 6, 2009 10:29 AM
Comments
I really don't understand some politicians. What is the increase in floorspace (sqfootage) with becoming the largest public library in the UK? And to use a very obvious example - what will be the additional costs for cleaning ?
So many politicians go on about public services needing to develop business efficiency, yet they seem clueless as to the impact of a huge Central Library can have on the library budget. And we are not even talking about the collections budget for materials to fill that new space.
I am very very afraid about what might happen to library services in Birmingham.
gryff :)
Posted by: gryff at April 6, 2009 2:17 PM