Irish Libraries cut out Irish Book Supply

The tender for supply of BOTH fiction and non-fiction books to DLR ( Dun Laoghaire, Rathdown), Fingal and Dublin South ( worth approx €750k) has just been awarded to Bertram Library Services in the U.K.

The local authorities will perhaps save a few cent on each book initially through this deal but I suspect they will lose out on many other benefits.  Irish Library suppliers work with publishers representatives to bring authors to tour libraries and they also sponsor library events around the country.   Irish Library Suppliers employ hundreds of people, support Irish publishers and Irish authors and illustrators and of course their business supports many jobs in the areas of indigenous publishing and foreign publisher representatives and agents.

Northern Ireland Libraries used to buy via UK Library suppliers and I had to deal with so many queries from Libraries in that area asking why certain books were not available.  Well they were available but not from the UK Library suppliers who were not focused enough on this market.

In summary, if the €750,000 is spent with UK Library Suppliers, none of this  money will return to the Irish Economy.  If the same sum is spent with Irish Library Suppliers, half of the €750,000 will return to the Irish economy through margins, marketing spend and commissions from publishers.

UPDATE
This blogpost was quoted in The Irish Examiner on 9th April 2012.