Splutters the Daily Mail with the usual level of pompous outrage in this article.
It may be true that nationally spending on books is decreasing (although as we all know there are lies, damn lies and CIPFA statistics) but it is thankfully not true in Swansea Libraries - where spending on books is increased at every opportunity.
3 comments:
This debate seems to go on and on. From the article in the Daily Mail it seems to say that only 10%of library budgets are spent on books, is this true ? what’s the situation in Swansea .. and of course it does depend on the size of the total budget
Thanks for your comment.
I can't claim to be the expert (to the degree of giving exact figures) but I do know that in Swansea the figure is more like 17% than 10%. I also know that the "bookfund" as it is known is regarded as sacred and when there are cuts to the overall budget (as there often are) it is protected.
Stands to reason really - the product is key. In my opinion, everything else we do is to facilitate the use of the product. Product in this sense is not just books but information, access to internet, films and music.
Incidentally, profit raised from DVD rental fees is used to buy more books.
So Swansea libarries are bucking the trend in investment in books ..thats great credit to the council and their library management
Post a Comment