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IRISH BOOKSELLERS have said that they are at risk of going out of business after a State decision to outsource the majority of procurement for new library books to the UK.
The tender process for the procurement of library books has granted 60% of the €6 million annual contract to a UK company.
The announcement of the contracts in December was met with dismay by Irish cultural bodies, such as the Irish Writers Centre and Poetry Ireland.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, the chair of Bookselling Ireland, Frank Kelly, said that the move may mean “at least three Irish companies will more than likely go out of business”.
He also pointed out that the short-term gain for the government in terms of savings on books will be offset by the cost of people losing their jobs as smaller booksellers struggle to compete.
Kelly said: “In the short run, the UK might be the cheaper option. Next time there’s a tender there won’t be any competition. They’d be free to increase their prices then. It’s a short-term gain for a long-term loss.”
As well as the impact on local jobs and communities – Kelly employs over 10 people at his Sligo business – there are fears that there will be a negative cultural impact from this outsourcing.
In a statement, Bookselling Ireland and Words Ireland said:
Irish booksellers and library suppliers offer unique local industry knowledge, and have been instrumental in supporting Irish publishers and authors by ensuring Irish content is available in Irish libraries.
Author and former Children’s Laureate Siobhán Parkinson said that, a year after we commemorated the 1916 rising, we should continue to promote events of Irish cultural and historical significance through the books we have in our libraries.
She said: “A nation that aspires to develop independent thinking in its children needs a public library system that can provide our children with books written by Irish authors, published in Ireland (as well as elsewhere), mediated by specialist Irish librarians.
“And supplied by specialist [children's books] Irish library suppliers who have expertise in Irish requirements and can source and recommend the titles that Irish readers and especially Irish children want and need to read.
If library supply contracts are outsourced to corporate entities outside Ireland, the cultural consequences will be enormous and irretrievable.
Cultural groups want the government to implement a “cultural exemption” to the procurement process which, under EU directives, can make tender processes subject to cultural sensitivities.
They say that, instead of locking out suppliers from overseas, “it would provide smaller Irish firms with some security for the future”.
Kelly added that specialist Irish suppliers had worked with libraries here for decades, and that they were aware of the specific requirements that libraries up and down the country have.
He said that a specific skillset will be lost if the contracts go ahead, and companies from outside Ireland take control of library supplies.
“We won’t be around the next time a procurement process comes along,” he said. “We want this to be looked at again before the contracts are signed, but it’ll be a tough battle.”
TheJournal.ie has asked the Local Government Management Agency, the State agency responsible for the provision of services to library authorities, for comment on the issue.
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Not sure why this was done with brexit looming, that contract should have been stalled. If the UK are planning on looking after indigenous industry then we should to.
There are regulatory procedures in place, unfortunately you can’t just stop it, no matter how unpalatable we may find it. While they are still in the EU, it’s fair game
There are also legal ways to bypass the regulatory procedures. Irish companies cannot compete with the scale of British companies. Breaking down the contract into smaller lots, including an Irish language element, specifying Irish publishers in the book lists all would help to make it less,easy for the British companies to compete.
As someone who worked in a local authority, this does not surprise me one little bit. Procurement is now the biggest department of most authorities and sub-contracting is their favourite game. Public service is now a dirty word
*or words!
Were always dirty words… Self service more deserved…
Fine Tory.
Selling Ireland by the pound.
Nothing new here. The HSE has got rid of a lot of their smaller local suppliers and given the contracts to a number of UK companies.
@mickmc: stricly speaking the smaller companies couldnt provide a service across the entire country or were too small for the procurement process (dont get me started on that!)
That’s true. Not trying to sound like president Trump or anything but the state as a whole is poorer as a result. Wages that were be paid and spent in the local economy is gone, taxes on those employees wages gone, on the profits from local suppliers all gone. Plus from all reports an inferior service, and quality of good from the UK supplier.
Asking the LGMA to comment? Don’t hold your breath.
What’s happened to looking after Irish bussinesses? WHY would contracts be given to UK companies if Brexit could have a negative economic impact on Ireland? Unbelievable.
WHY….
Well it seems that the erosion of our cultural choices doesn’t seem to excite the Journal readers as much as the goings on in the Whitehouse. Perhaps if it did this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Sure it’s only books lads………
A bit of a joke – the island of saints and scholars employes a British company to stock it’s libraries! Disappointing that an Irish company could not be more competitive to win the tender.
Economies of scale unfortunately:(
last qtr isnt listed https://www.procurement.ie/news/2735 so we dont know what the terms for procurement were
And also, do you want an open procurement system like (more of less) exists now, or the old days where purchases always went to friends?
@Thomas M Bourke: In this scenario, am I a friend of the procurement manager?
It looks like anything with a public service label attached to it is anathema to the FG led minority government.
Libraries are old school – time to move on.
Costs relatively nothing to publish a book online and why would we not want kids to naturally look to the future?
I get the nostalgia aspect of it all – but it looks ridiculous to see the odd person in an airport carry an actual book these days. It’s up there with the Walkman
Publishing costs can be low. If you go without professional editing, proof reading, formatting, cover art, marketing, promotion, or paying the author for actually writing it. Not to mention the publisher’s cut, if not self published. Everytime a book is borrowed from a library, an author gets a nominal royalty, plus the royalty on the initial purchase. So people who can’t afford to buy books are contributing in a small way to the cost of keeping publishing folk in employment and producing future books. The cost of producing an ebook is exactly the same as producing a print book to the point of distribution. Then ebook distributors take their cut of every copy sold verses the cost of ink and paper, and phyical distribution and storage. The bigger the print run, the lower that cost is per copy. And some people like print books. It’s a different reading experience. Ebooks are great for being able to carry lots at once and the instant gratification of being able to buy and have it on the device instantly, but the avid readers I know aren’t giving up print anytime soon.
You left out the wider distribution model. Immediate global audience.
Have tons of books here but even when I want to re-read one I buy it a second time on the kindle. Plus I purchase electronic copies for people if I like it whereas a decade ago I would have just loaned them the book.
@justanothertaxpayer: I fly a fair amount, and i always have a book with me. Carrying a book is far better than seeing so many sheep with their hands and eyes glued to glass screen fronted bit of plastic with a bit of wire attached from it to their ear, all eyes down shuffling along.
when I go on holiday I would need to carry a small library with me.
And when I travel through many airports for work I would guestimate only 1% have physical books.
As for your sheep comment… that’s a bit sad that you see it as a confrontational thing. Perhaps you should get the boat in any future trips to the US so as to be amongst the non-sheep
@justanothertaxpayer: Ebooks are the future? This reads like a post from 2008. Ebooks had fantastic figures in the early years because they were being compared to such a low rate. They’ve since plateaued while physical sales had a slight increase (these figures would be from 2015 or so). Regardless of this, people reading physical books vastly outnumber those reading them on eReaders, both in Ireland, in other countries in the ‘developed’ world, and, of course, globally.
But there doesn’t have to be a divide between physical and digital. I have a Kindle but do most of my reading in physical format. It’s far cheaper (for me) but will take my Kindle with me when travelling.
As for libraries being ‘old school’: it depends on the library (just like anything, really). Check out the Ilac library after 5pm any day of the week. Full to overflowing with people studying, reading newspapers, taking language classes, listening to talks, practicing music.
@Olive Eliot: I don’t know how it could be cheaper for you Olive unless you are reading old classics or waiting for a year after publication etc. New books are routinely 40% cheaper digitally when published.
You make a good point on libraries that are upgraded and diversified into all media and acting as general knowledge and arts centres though. If there was more of that I would be a big fan – certainly better than doing it in Starbucks.
My point was specifically focussed on physical books vs electronic and in that narrow context I stand by it. But if they can move with the times and morph in digital content centres then that is worth supporting I think.
@justanothertaxpayer: Pretty easy to read new books for free (and this is where the library comes in again). And if your library isn’t up to scratch, just order from a different one. I haven’t had an issue getting most of what I want, whether that’s new books (may require a bit of forward planning, but I’ve never had an issue), obscure ones, different genres, etc. It’s a great service, and now that you can order from different libraries, it means you’re not stuck with the stock in your local one. But as I said, I mix and match, limiting myself to one medium strikes me as a bit self-defeating.
Yes, but there’s a worldwide web market for Irish publishers also. They should be looking at the possibility of selling online. Even in the educational area, students don’t want to physically carry a stack of books back and forth.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: I’m not sure I’d agree on the physically carrying books. I worked in a college for 3 years, and up until last year (when I left) the library had a difficult time in promoting online reading to their students. They would get all the most popular books in digital format, but the students would just want the actual books and would go on waiting lists rather than download the digital copies. They would notify them of their availability, and the take up was (frustratingly) low. And these were young students, it wasn’t a generational thing. They could be reading these things on their phones/laptops/ipads/whatever. Students (at least anecdotally) still want the physical item for studying (although this doesn’t seem to apply to journal articles: there was a nearly 100% uptake on this option for online availability).
Now Michael Dee what you gonna do ?
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