As my county library is part of The Libraries Consortium, I really don’t mind paying this charge as a contribution towards the logistics, (cost of vehicles, tax and insurance, fuel and driver wages) involved in moving books from one place to another, often long distances.
I regard it as a small price to pay to have access to over 6 million more items of stock beyond what is held in the county.
I was talking to staff at my village library on Saturday. They tell me that a lot of books are reserved but not collected so that waste has to be factored in.
I accept that council budgets are stretched, primarily to pay for adult social care, hence, for example, the introduction of charges for the collection of green waste.
I would also add that there had long been a charge in this county if you asked a member of staff to reserve an item rather than reserving online. One could argue that was a tax on people who did not have a computer or other digital device.
The new charges do not apply to children.
