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Budget cut for Bodleian Libraries

Book purchasing budget to fall by nearly 3 per cent in real terms

The Bodleian Libraries’ book purchasing budget has been cut for the 2018-19 academic year.

The central library budget for the 2018-19 financial year is £8,699k which is a fall of over £50k from the previous year. When adjusted for inflation over the period, this amounts to a near -3% cut in the library’s book-purchasing capacity.

One librarian who wished to remain anonymous told Cherwell: “it’s disappointing to see that the book purchasing budget has fallen in real terms for the 2018/19 financial year.

“The problem is being exacerbated by the fall in the pound, which has meant that books published outside the UK cost a lot more than they used to. We have a smaller budget but an even smaller number of books that we purchase with it.”

Philanthropic donations to the Bodleian, which are counted towards the library’s book purchasing budget, have also fallen from £1,088k to £993k, representing a 12% real-terms cut from 2017-18 to 2018-19.

Philanthropic donations include “income generated by Trust Funds being used to purchase materials and one-off donations for the purchase of particular items or groups of items” according to a spokesperson from the Bodleian Libraries.

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