We're taking a bit of a breather while the world rearranges its underpants. Meanwhile, the other blog is here.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

All of which leaves us in a taradiddle

The week before the end of the financial year is a splendid moment for the council to decide that we could have spent the book fund after all, it having been frozen since the beginning of November. This is the nightmare scenario: if we don't spend it it's an underspend, which affects next year's budget (despite that having been set in stone in December) but we can't actually spend it in the time available to us. Even as a rush job, given that we're down on staff to do the selection, ordering and paying off the invoices, the suppliers are swamped at this time of the year by library authorities dumping last-minute panic buying sprees on them.

"We'll have to do a couple of visits," says Julia.

This is the preferred option of people who won't be having to do three times as much work as usual in a rush to buy in the bin-ends from the supplier's warehouse for to sit around in boxes for months on end while somebody decides where they're going.

Luckily, there aren't enough staff available to keep the doors open without a lot of goodwill over staggered lunch breaks so there's no question whatever of getting a bunch of librarians in a charabanc for a supermarket sweep.

5 comments:

Pat said...

If you had the mindset of some MPs you could make a few bob pushing blogger friends writer's books. So glad you haven't:)

Happy Frog and I said...

Can you persuade them to do an accrual till end of April? That usually works for me...

Macy said...

Let me know if you need to buy any of mine.
For an extra couple of used fivers I'll even deliver orders of over 500 books....motr

Webrarian said...

We get round this (not that this precise disaster has happened - yet) by setting up a "subscription" with the suppliers. Payment in advance for goods to be supplied next year against a specification.

But I expect you're either not allowed to do that or doing it already...

Kevin Musgrove said...

Pat: thank you for the compliment!

Happy Frog & You: sadly not. In the past we were able to stretch it (and had to!) to the second week in April but this year all the books are closed firmly early next week.

Macy: if you're delivering will you be accompanied?

Webrarian: this is precisely the only reason why we've had any new books at all in the second half of the financial year.