REGIONAL ROUND‐UP

Abstract

The regional library systems of England and the interlending organisations in Wales and Scotland have been subjected to some drastic domestic changes and much modification of procedures during the last two years. Local government reorganisation in England and Wales has dominated the deliberations of the regional executive committees, and within the Bureaux the staffs have had to face up to the fact that their union catalogues will provide locations of authorities that no longer exist. The new authorities reached varying decisions regarding interlending within their boundaries — some moving rapidly towards total centralisation, others deciding to conduct loans through former independent towns until a central union catalogue could be created. LASER had of course seen all this before under the London Boroughs' reorganisation, but suffered the upheaval again in the outer areas of the region. With consequent decreases in membership, changes in representation on their governing bodies became necessary, rates of subscriptions had to be adjusted, and constitutions redrafted. Some regions took the opportunity to abandon the “usage” charge as a means of income, reverting to the standard method of subscriptions based on population — although interestingly the Northern region now bases its subscriptions on rateable value.

Citation

Davey, J. (1974), "REGIONAL ROUND‐UP", BLL Review, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 111-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb008445