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Cooking the books
Page 38
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HAVING had Stephen Geary's article (CM, June 29) brought to my attention rather belatedly, I would like to take issue with the assumption which he makes about the cost-effectiveness of the vehicles constructed to my design for Edinburgh City Libraries.
His article, as it refers to Edinburgh, draws loosely on a press release prepared by Messrs Chloride, suppliers of the electrical support system, which was developed to reduce the overhead costs of providing "plug-inpoints at the 50 locations now covered by the mobile service in the City.
In the comparisons which Mr Geary makes with the Cornwall "skip" libraries and the Bradford "transportable furniture'' approach, he omits to consider fully the siteworks and services costs associated with the former and the building and property costs associated with the latter. Even if not directly charged to the library service, these costs will fall on the local authority and must be considered in addition to the operational costs of the vehicles involved.
The Edinburgh vehicles were designed to be self-contained, operating over a 12-hour day, and attracting no costs other than those relating to vehicle operation and staffing. I know of no other new mobile libraries which carry a similar number of ibooks with equal flexibility of operation, and which have been put into operation at a similar cost.
I must challenge Mr Geary's assertion that -the cost of the
vehicle makes the economies
questionable.I suggest that he asks a few librarians to indicate
current costs, which are more likely to be in the range of 18,000-£25,000.
Mr Cocker (CM, July 20) by writing to correct Mr Geary only confuses the issue of costs for your readers. The price for each trailer body, as Mr Cocker's own accounts will show, was £6830 plus VAT, not £13,600 as he states. This included mounting of all free issue items, and with the purchase of the chassis and all fitments gave an on the road cost of £13,600 per trailer, as stated.
Perhaps any of your readers who may be interested in the project would like to contact me direct. In the role of designer/ purchaser I can claim to have the only record of costs not based on speculation.
A. G. D. WHITE, Assistant City Librarian, Centreal Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.