We are in a situation of declining issues for CDs and cassettes, where collections are not self-finacing, where because of our financial situation we cannot afford to spend enough to make an impact, where even new titles do not issue well and where our staff appear to be a substantial proportion of the borrowers and they do not pay to borrow. We some time ago decided to buy only CDs and gradually to phase out cassettes and we have tried moving collections to more prominent locartions within the library as well as only having collections in our bigger libraries. We are considering our options (unfortunately spending a bigger sum of money does not appear to be one of them) and in the context of Best Value I am asking whether any other authority (especially those who don't have a 'central library' ) have been in the same situation and what they did? Centralise to one or two libraries only? Withdraw the service? Change the charging policy? Publicise differently? Concentrate on certain categories of music? Ignore the problem? What were the effects in terms of issues and customer response?
(By the way we do not appear to have the same problem with videos despite the fact that we only stock information videos and the film of the book.)
I would be very grateful for any information or experience that would help us decide on our next steps. Thanks!
Rhian Williams
Prif Lyfrgellydd / Principal Librarian
Gwasanaeth Llyfrgell, Gwybodaeth ac Archifau / Library, Information & Archives Service
Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol CONWY County Borough Council
E-bost / E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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