The Bookseller.com

9th January 2009

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Government cost cuts could hit British Library

29.01.07 Philip Jones

The Independent reports on a threat to the British Library: "The future of the British Library as a world-class, free resource is under threat from plans to cut up to 7% of its £100m budget in this year's Treasury spending round. To survive, the library proposes to slash opening hours by more than a third and to charge researchers for admission to the reading rooms for the first time."

"All public exhibitions would close, along with schools learning programmes. The permanent collection, which includes a copy of every book published in the UK, would be permanently reduced by 15 per cent. And the national newspaper archive, used by 30,000 people a year, including many researching their family trees, would close."

Independent

Philip Jones British Library libraries