Home | Funding and Financial Opportunities (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

SUMMARY

SCOPE
This guideline covers sources of public library funding including governmental (public sector), library generated (fees, subscriptions) and external sources (grants, donations, bidding).
POLICY ISSUES
Public libraries are dependent for most of their money on annual grants from local and central government. In most countries, this core funding has grown relatively slowly in recent years at a time when the role of the service has been and continues to be changed by the advent of new media and the Internet and demand for a wider range of information services. 

Many public libraries find it difficult to meet these increased costs from statutory funding. They need to consider whether or not they should seek to augment their core funding by any or all of the following means:

• Lobbying and advocacy at national and local levels.

• Influencing public opinion and forming groups of friends of the public library

• Applying for grant funding.

• Outsourcing or joint service delivery with other organizations or the private sector.

• Income generation or charging for services.

Public libraries must operate within the limits of the legislation establishing libraries and defining library services. In some countries public libraries are required by law to provide 'core' services without charge to the end user, although this is by no means universal. Furthermore, there is no universally accepted, prescriptive definition of core services.

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES
Various opportunities for supplementing direct public core funding for libraries are available against the background of differing regulatory systems in force in European countries. Libraries may in many cases raise money by charging for services, and by bidding for funds from those organisations which encourage competitive bidding for awards of funding to carry out projects. There remains variation in practice and lively debate, regarding the extent to which services can and should always be free to the user at the point of delivery.

FUTURE AGENDA 
The longer-term impact upon public libraries of a tendency to become more dependent on external funding is unclear. Organisations with a good track record, experienced staff and established working partnerships are likely to keep on winning. Imbalances may need to be redressed by special programmes to enable weaker bidders to ‘catch up’. However, the drive of one local authority and library to emulate the successes of another can be a powerful force in its own right in unlocking local authority funding.

The risk that governments and authorities may seek to withdraw core funding from libraries that have secured large sums of money from grants is one which needs to be monitored. Research may be needed to assess these outcomes over time.

Home | Social Inclusion (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4