Public libraries in the "age of austerity": income generation and public library ethos

Authors

  • Hartwig Pautz University of the West of Scotland
  • Alan Poulter University of Strathclyde

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/lirg609

Keywords:

public library, income generation, public library ethos

Abstract

The budgets of Britain’s public services have been under sustained pressure and public libraries are no exception to public spending cuts in today’s “age of austerity”. Librarians increasingly try to supplement shrinking budgets by employing a variety of income generation methods. But are these methods always in line with the public library ethos? This article presents data showing what British librarians hold to be the public library ethos, what they undertake to generate extra income to maintain public library services and whether they think that their efforts to generate additional income are ever in contradiction to the public library ethos. The article is based on survey and interview data produced in 2013 and also provides, in a Supplementary File, a comprehensive list of income generation methods. The research methods only allowed for the production of non-generalisable data.

Author Biographies

Hartwig Pautz, University of the West of Scotland

Hartwig Pautz studied Information and Library Studies at the University of Strathclyde and is lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland.

Alan Poulter, University of Strathclyde

Alan Poulter has been lecturer in librarianship and information management for over 25 years after working at the British Library and the London Science Museum.

Downloads

Published

2014-06-07

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 117 (2014): Special issue: public libraries

Section

Refereed Research Articles

License

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. 

Authors are able to distribute the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.