No new books for county libraries

9:50am Friday 26th September 2003

LIBRARIES have been forced to make immediate cuts in order to remain within its budget for the year.

The Buckinghamshire County Council service said it is mainly due to the huge increase in the cost of videos and DVD's which has led to a predicted drop in income of £300,000 this year.

The money would usually contribute to the £1 million a year spent on new stock, such as books, magazines and newspapers.

Now the service, having spent £456,000 so far this year on new stock, has decided it will buy no more books for the rest of the financial year and will stop buying periodicals and daily newspapers in all but its largest libraries.

Margaret Dewar, portfolio holder for community services, said: "New industry regulations mean that we are now paying, in some cases, a staggering 300 per cent more to buy new videos and DVDs for rental.

"This means our income is severely reduced, because we have kept the rental charges to our customers at affordable levels."

She added: "We pride ourselves in the quality and wide range of books our libraries already hold. I realise that these sudden cuts will severely inconvenience library users and I apologise for them for this. However, it would be irresponsible of us not to try and correct this projected overspend."

The partial closure of Aylesbury library for major refurbishment has led to a further £50,000 drop in income. Also, Government funding for the People's Network of public access computers in all libraries has now stopped. It aims to get the service back within budget by the end of the financial year.