LISU has for many years produced very good statistical reports and analyses of the library and information services in the UK. This statistical publication focuses on the libraries spending on materials and on the budget for materials. The very detailed statistics are based on a survey investigation and it gives a very comprehensive picture of the actual expenditure in 2006/2007 and relates it to the original estimate. There are also figures for 2007/2008 and current estimates for 2008/2009. It is important to be aware of the different status and differences between the categories.
It is probably one of the most detailed and segmented surveys of public library spending published.
The publication falls in several parts. It begins with a so‐called commentary amounting to over 20 pages. This commentary gives an overview of the broader picture and it contains a very useful discourse on the development and it is indispensable for a full understanding for the many tables and figures in the following sections. The next section consists of summary tables. The section amounts to 30 pages and it gives together with the commentary an extremely useful overview of the financial state of the economic situation of public libraries in the UK. The commentary and this section with summary statistics are probably the two sections that are most relevant for people that appreciate an overview of the situation.
By far, the largest section deals with the individual authority reports from London, Metropolitan districts, unitaries, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This section amounts to over 200 pages. In this section, we get information for each of these on expenditures. The expenditures are presented in relation to books, both adult and children, newspapers and periodical, binding, sound recordings divided into music and talking books, video and recordings, different forms of multimedia among others. We also receive information staff numbers, service points, opening hours and mobile libraries. All this information can be seen in relation to the total library expenditure.
The very comprehensive statistical report from the single authorities will of course, be of huge interest for library management. The information will without doubt be used for various kinds of benchmarking and comparisons. The figures and tables from the single authorities will also be of pertinent interest for researchers studying the development of different aspects of the public libraries.
However, the commentaries and the summary tables can also give a very good insight into the state and development of the public libraries in the UK. The economic situation overall appears to have been rather stable from 2006 to 2008. There is a small decrease in spending in England and small increases in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but the prognosis for 2008/2009 indicates that the recession also will hit the public libraries. However, it is also important to emphasise that the economic situations is much better on average in 2007/2008 than it was just a few years ago. But overall, the average library spending per capita is not breathtaking. It varies from 15 £ to app. 25. It is less than half of the spending in for example Denmark.
It is probably a general trend that spending for books decline slowly because of the increased interest in other types of material and this fact is well documented in the book. It is a slow process but it changes the composition of the collections in the municipalities. It is also rather noteworthy that the number of professional staff decreases. This is rather remarkably as many of the new tasks and objective public libraries work with like life‐long learning, information literacy and so on requires a highly qualified staff.
For most of the spending, the statistics present a rather stable picture but the future does not according to the estimates look very bright and one can fear that the recession will hit the services rather hard. Apart from this bleak prediction the publication indicates a general trend that is that the collections and acquisitions of the public library system is changing and so‐called new media becomes more and more important. It is a slow process but eventually it will change the public library system in profound ways.
Overall, it is a very useful publication and these types of publications are necessary when one studies the development of the services. LISU has again done a very good job of documenting the development. And if you like numbers and the way numbers can tell a story you should not miss this publication.
