Outrage as city with new £188m library ask readers for help buying books

A council which spent £188million on a state-of-the-art new library has been criticised by readers and authors after it ran out of money and asked the public to donate books.

Libraries in Birmingham have posted notices requesting members donate their new and recently-released books, saying they would be “gratefully received”.

Birmingham City Council confirmed it had placed its own book fund on "pause", after being compelled to make “huge savings” across the board as a result of budget cuts nationwide.

It will now only consider buying new books on a “case by case basis”, depending on demand, and would welcome "any support" from the public, a spokesman said.

A poster detailing the request, circulated on social media from a local BBC radio station, provoked criticism from writers including S J Watson, author of Before I Go to Sleep, who said it made him “really angry”. Neil Gaiman posted the news with a simple “!”, while Jonathan Coe called it "beyond terrible".

One reader called it “horrifying and sad”, while others said they were “incensed” and spoke of a “crisis” in the library service.

The city recently spent nearly £200m on the new Library of Birmingham, only to be compelled to reduce its opening hours a year later thanks to budget cuts.

A notice placed in some of the city's libraries states: "Due to public savings cuts we are no longer purchasing any new books or newspapers. Therefore we're looking for any books published in the last 12 months to be donated to the library. All gratefully received".

The council said that, in common with other local authorities across the country, “simply cannot continue to do everything and fund everything we historically have”.

Elizabeth Ash, a trustee of The Library Campaign which works to protect services, called the move "astonishing".

"It's unbelievable," she told the Telegraph. "They've spent all that money on that big library, then cut the hours; now to appeal for books is just madness.

"Without new books, the people who rely on libraries won't be able to get what they need. It will affect those who need to use libraries the most: people on a low wage, students, the elderly.

"We need central government and councils to understand the value of libraries and what they provide. At the moment, they are seen as a soft target.

"The whole situation is just dire."

Penny Holbrook, Birmingham City Council cabinet member for Skills, Learning and Culture, said: “We are continuing to look at how we secure the future of all our community libraries but whilst that work is underway we need to make tough choices to save money.

“One of those choices is a pause on the book fund.

"We have never had a situation where we have bought every book suggested to us and at the moment we need to examine all requests for new purchases on a case by case basis depending on demand.

“We have always made choices about which books to buy, but clearly we need to be careful and buy those books that are most needed.

“Whilst we have not corporately asked for donations from the public and this is the actions of a few libraries we do of course welcome any support the public wish to give our community libraries and the council in general, however we do not expect the public to make up for cuts to the budget from the Government.”