19 August 2005
Public libraries face major challenges to combat the continuing decline in book borrowing, according to leading government advisers.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council is calling for extended opening hours, free internet access, better co-ordination of procurement and a major investment programme to renovate and sustain public library buildings.
The council was responding to a report published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on July 29. Public libraries: efficiency and stock supply chain review, commissioned by the MLA and then libraries minister Andrew McIntosh and produced by consultants PKF, recommends the setting up of a national agency to run libraries.
It also proposes privatising book choice through wholesale suppliers, depriving librarians of their 144-year-old right to choose the books their branch will stock.
MLA chair Mark Wood said: 'Traditional lending services must be improved and complemented by on-line access to information using up-to-date technologies.
'We are also calling for urgent investment in library buildings so that they're the sorts of places people want to visit. We know that when libraries are properly funded, book borrowing rates and visitor numbers increase. Yet most public libraries have suffered from a chronic lack of capital investment.'
The MLA is the national development agency working for and on behalf of museums, libraries and archives, advising the government on policy.
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, the principal librarians' organisation, said many of the report's conclusions were 'simplistic'.
Chief executive Bob McKee said: 'The report provides a realistic assessment of library stock purchasing power – library authorities in England account for only 3% of the book market in the UK.'
Culture minister David Lammy said: 'For libraries to be able to provide the best possible selection of books they need to purchase them at the most economical cost. By working together on joint orders and shared systems they could save between £7m and £20m that could be spent on more books or on other improvements such as longer opening hours.'
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