British Culture Secretary Chris Smith announced December 18 that the British Library budget will be reduced by £2.25 million when the new fiscal year begins in April. The budget is down to £80.45 million from a planned £82.7 million.
"We were being strained to our absolute limits anyway," Senior Press Officer Ken Shirreffs told American Libraries, "so any cut is going to make life difficult for us." He said the reduction took the library by surprise, and as of mid-January no decision has been made about how the cuts will impact library services. "Acquisition and conservation programs will be the first thing we're going to look at," he said.
Shirreffs noted the budget crunch will not affect the library's ongoing move to its new facility at St. Pancras (see American Libraries, Nov. 1997, p. 25-26).
Posted January 19, 1998.