Value for money in Government library/information services

There is a section entitled ‘Too much vs Too Little’ in Robert Townsend's book Up the Organisation (London: Michael Joseph, 1970) which has a direct bearing on the subject of this paper: ‘A tight budget brings out the best creative instincts in man. Give him unlimited funds and he won't come up with the best way to a result. Man is a complicating animal. He only simplifies under pressure. Put him under some financial pressure … then he'll come up with a plan which, to his own private amazement, is not only less expensive, but also faster and better than his original proposal which you sent back’!