tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post3729574539760725689..comments2024-03-28T13:39:27.601-07:00Comments on DSHR's Blog: Preservation Is Not A Technical ProblemDavid.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-46625456908285842772017-12-12T09:26:47.273-08:002017-12-12T09:26:47.273-08:00The BL's budget problems are symptomatic of UK...The BL's budget problems are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/11/figures-show-children-worst-hit-by-library-cuts" rel="nofollow">symptomatic of UK libraries in general</a>:<br /><br />"The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s annual survey of Great Britain’s libraries paints familiar picture: for the seventh year running, the number of branches and paid staff declined. There are now 3,745 branches remaining in England, Scotland and Wales, down by 105 since 2016, while the number of paid staff has declined by 5% compared with a year ago.<br /><br />These falls come alongside a drop of £66m in total spend on council-run libraries, with visits down by 3% year on year, and by 14% over the last five years. The decline, according to the CIPFA figures, is almost across the board: book issues fell by 6.3% in the last year, and by 25.1% in the last five years. Book stock held is also down by 2.6%."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-24146189578455770732017-08-04T08:10:15.694-07:002017-08-04T08:10:15.694-07:00I should also have pointed out that the British Li...I should also have pointed out that the British Library is but one minor if severe casualty of the <a href="https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/08/austerity-one-country-case-britain.html" rel="nofollow">Conservative government's decade-long assault on the UK's public sector</a>:<br /><br />"In the period between the 1950s and 2010 government spending increased in real terms at an annual rate of 2.9% and the UK had a level of public expenditure relative to GDP comparable to most other OECD countries. Since 2010 the increase in government spending has fallen to an annual rate of 0.3% with the result that per person real spending per head has been flat. By 2020/21 per person real government spending per person will have fallen by 4% compared to 2010 when the coalition took office.<br /><br />Within government there have been catastrophic cutbacks in departmental spending (17% overall) with cuts to education (14%), defence (18%) and Communities and Local Government (25%). The NHS has had an increased level of funding (5%) but this is totally inadequate to meet demographic growth and the needs of an ageing population. Welfare spending per person (excluding pensioners) has fallen 10% in real terms since 2010."<br /><br />The result has been appalling:<br /><br />"real household per capita income was a mere 1% higher in 2017 than it was a decade ago. In the years before 2007 the average annual increase in household real per capita income was 2.6%, however since then it has fallen to a mere 0.3%. This has to be the worst performance by any post-war government in the UK."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-46485724270806557982017-08-03T08:35:01.869-07:002017-08-03T08:35:01.869-07:00I should have mentioned that other calculators of ...I should have mentioned that other calculators of UK inflation, such as <a href="http://inflation.stephenmorley.org/" rel="nofollow">this one</a>, generate slightly different real income figures, but not enough different to change the message of this post. I went with the official Bank of England calculator.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.com