"I
have no way of posting on Lis Pub Libs, but my response to the posts by both
John Dolan and Sarah Wilkie would be this:
"
You are both crediting my presentation with more information than it contains.
If you look at it, it shows (slide 9) , from figures issued by the council for
the current year, that the cost of operating 34 libraries and mobiles is £3.52m
(including the materials fund) and that the non-library based costs of the
library service in Somerset (excluding any council service recharges) are
£2.98m.
My
recommendation was not that the office should be shut but that in seeking a
budget reduction of £1.35m, the council should seek the savings first in the
offfice rather than in the operation of the libraries themselves. (Slide
10).
Of
course I understand that Bookstart, the Summer Reading Challenge and other
activities can be important additions to the service provided in the libraries
themselves, but it seems reasonable to ask that such work that cannot be carried
out in libraries themselves, could be contained within an overall office budget
of £1.65m.'
I do
believe that such scrutiny of the non-library based operations should have taken
place before the proposals to close libraries were made and that they would
reveal even more opportunities to direct funds on to the front line, including a
substantial increase in the book fund."
Tim lis
pub