Culture minister Margaret Hodge has said that libraries should think of selling books as well as lending them. However publication of the full DCMS Library Review and the results of the Wirral Inquiry are to be delayed yet further.Speaking at the Public Library Authorities (PLA) conference in Brighton, Hodge gave advance hints of the Review's findings, confirming earlier press reports that she was considering an "Amazon-style" home delivery service for libraries, with readers ordering books online and paying "a small fee" to have it delivered to their home. She also suggested that libraries should sell as well as lend: "How about a tie in with Amazon: 'You've borrowed the book, now send a brand new copy to a friend'".
A library ticket for every new born baby to last them through life was also on the cards, as are loyalty cards rewarding book reads with free DVD hires. "We need to offer young people something new and distinctive."
As librarians do you think this could work?
1 comment:
The logistics of selling books as well as lending is frightening, nor do I think it would be economically viable.
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