Libraries News Round-up: 16th January 2014

Gov.uk: 16th January
DCMS | Report under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 for 2012/13
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-under-the-public-libraries-and-museums-act-1964-for-201213

New Statesman : 15th January
Five reasons Universal Credit will fail – even if they sort out the IT
It’s also not enough to be digitally literate. Computers and the internet are expensive, particularly on £71.70 a week. Libraries are not the obvious solution they may first seem – 1,000 will have closed by 2016, travel is costly and even impossible in rural areas, and public computers are often time-limited and oversubscribed.
http://www.newstatesman.com/staggers/2014/01/five-reasons-universal-credit-will-fail-even-if-they-sort-out-it First one

YouGov : 15th January
Public Libraries Not Dead Yet
51% of the UK population have a current library card and 47% have used a public library in the last 12 months
http://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/01/15/public-libraries-not-dead/

The Star : 16th January
Letter | Stop wasting council taxpayers’ money
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/letters-opinion/stop-wasting-council-taxpayers-money-1-6375935

The Star : 16th January
Letter | Consultants’ fees should be spent on libraries
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/letters-opinion/consultants-fees-should-be-spent-on-libraries-1-6375937