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Tommi
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What a hot topic. Not really sure how to make my point without sounding sour grapesish, becasue I am not a mainstream published author and really have no right to speak on their behalf, but I do find (although I accept there is an inequality in the amounts) an author calling for library fees whilst not simultaneously calling for an end to the public lending rights payments to be somewhat in bad taste.
Songs from the Other Side of the Wall is just £0.70 on Kindle
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MLT
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Whenever Councils are required to reduce expenditure the first service to be targeted is the library service. It always has been so. The first Public Libraries Act of 1850 allowed councils to use the product of a penny rate to BUILD libraries, but not to buy books. That is one reason why subscription libraries were so popular with those who could afford to join them. They were stocked with new books that people wanted to read. Some of them were still flourishing in the 1960s, including small ones in department stores. In Leeds I belonged to one and also paid to borrow from the public library.
Many public libraries do make charges; for reservations, requests, DVDs and internet access. If a small charge for borrowing books led to an improvement in the stock it might reduce the cost of reserving recently published books of which there are too few copies to supply the branches. There is no reason why children, students, pensioners and people on benefit should not be exempt.
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pipio
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Quote: antonygloster, Friday, 2 Jul 2010 08:15Quote: pipio, Friday, 2 Jul 2010 00:21Libaries gave us power... You shouldn't stop taking your tablets Pipio. The Electricity Board gave us power. You're obviously not one of 'us', Antony.
... an honest insult is so much better than an insincere flattery...
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antonygloster
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Quote: pipio, Wednesday, 7 Jul 2010 16:00You're obviously not one of 'us', Antony. If this is the 'royal' plural then you're certainly right.
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