Frances,
This is a good point. I suspect the
main reason is that until now Reading Groups have not only been main stream
but a significant part of our move to increase issues and visitor figures.
Now of course and suddenly we're faced with a completely different set
of beans to count - how much money will the government let us have? Therefore,
what can we do to raise income and ensure that at least some of the good
work we've all been doing doesn't disappear over the hill with our budgets.
I'm slightly surprised this conversation
has taken place only on Lis pub Libs - so if I've done the e-mail address
right I'm trying to forward it to the Reader Development list as well,
as this is surely an important question for their work.
Alyson Hogarth
Stock Manager
Middlesbrough Libraries and Information
01642 729420
I have glimpsed at these emails on Charges for reading
groups
One thing that amazes me (and it is not that you should charge for a premium
service)., BUT that you are charging so little, without any sense of why
that amount has been chosen. Is it based on a true business case, taking
into account all costs, of space, time, labour?
f
Frances Hendrix
Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs PR6 7QR,
UK
tel: 01257 274 833. fax: 01257 266 488
email: [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Jones" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 11:28 AM
Subject: Re: Reading Groups and charges
In Surrey we've recently introduced a charge for reading groups, as of
1st
August 2010. They used to be able to borrow sets of their chosen title
free
of charge for 13 weeks. We've now reduced that to 6 weeks and have
introduced a £2 per set reservation fee. This £2 is the same whether they're
borrowing 5 copies or 10 etc. We did a user survey in Dec/Jan of our reading
groups in general and people indicated that they would be prepared to pay
if
it meant that they had access to the new book stock, rather than having
to
wait a year for it. The only way we could do this was by reducing their
loan
time, as 13 weeks tied up the new stock. So far, from the nearly 700 reading
groups that we have attached to the libraries in Surrey, only 1 group has
objected to the charge. We notified them about a month ago, so there's
been
time for them to respond if they weren't happy. We did consider an annual
charge, but felt that the logistics of collecting the fee, the issues of
those groups who didn't use it very often, those groups who have 5 members
and those who have 15 etc, were getting too complicated. The £2 is attached
to the borrower category, so it automatically triggers when someone reserves
a title.
Craig Jones
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