Illogical?
Sir: Lady Antonia Fraser and the Society of Authors, quite rightly deplore the savage cuts in the bookfund of the Buckinghamshire County Library, but is there not something illogical in these protests?
For some time now we have been reading the complaints raised by the Society of Authors and others about the savage exploitation of authors by the public libraries which rob authors of potential royalties by issuing books at no charge,and presumably robbing authors of possible sales. If public libraries are now to feel the economic pinch and spend substantially less on books than before, then surely authors should rejoice. If all their arguments in the past are true, then reduced book funds in.public libraries should mean greater sales in the bookshops, and larger royalties for writers.
Perhaps these deplorable times may at least give us an opportunity to see how true all the arguments of the Society of Authors and the Writers Action Group are. If reduced book funds in libraries lead to an increased turnover in bookshops then there may be substance in the idea of a Public Lending Right. However, I doubt if anyone really believes this. As Antonia Fraser says, less books in libraries can only lead to a reduction in the reading public, and from this everyone, authors publishers and libraries will be the losers.
T. W. Morrard 39 Denton Road, Norwich, Norfolk
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