Inflation is not just for Christmas
INFLATION is no longer just loom- ing on the horizon it has arrived and the consensus is no longer that it will be temporary, as some experts had hoped. It could mean old relation- ships rewritten in a new economic landscape. Prices are being driven by shortages in goods and services that cannot be scaled up quickly to meet new demand. In the book trade it has sparked fears over availability that have driven booksellers to stockpile ahead of Christmas – poten- tially exacerbating shortages.
Supply chain Back in November The Financial Times reported a groundswell of different pressures on the publishing industry. It traced problems back to the supply of raw materials saying that increasing use of digital media has led to a decline in the infrastructure of the paper industry. Paper mills have closed and the sudden pandemic-related demand surge for books and cardboard for online delivery services – cannot be easily met. The FT cited the chief operating officer of CPI Books, the biggest printing house in Europe, who told the paper that the price of paper had gone up by about 20 to 30 per cent, energy about 25 per cent and transport, glue and plastic wrapping as much as 15 per cent. In reaction the company had raised prices for publishers by an average of five per cent.
The newspaper added that the UK lacks
facilities for colour publications and “the risk of shortages is most acute in genres such as children’s, cookery and gardening, according to publishers and retailers.” Transport is also a big issue. Karina Stevens, head of operations at children’s publisher Nosy Crow told the newspaper that delays to shipments were “getting worse by the day” and that transport issues weren’t just price related, saying a ship “literally just offloaded our container at the port in Singapore. We had to wait for the next ship, which was a week later.”
Impact Peters, the UK’s leading specialist supplier of children’s books to schools and public libraries told Information Professional that it is seeing “price increases from our suppliers between five per cent and 20 per cent. These price increases are as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, and challenges across the whole of the supply chain. We would expect price increases to become the new normal as we enter an in- flationary period. Neither public or school libraries are exempt from these economic factors and as such their book budgets will buy less stock in the future”. David Taylor, Senior Vice President Content Acquisition International for Ingram Con- tent Group in the UK, said: “We’re seeing pressures on labour rates in the UK as we’re seeing in Australia and the US and also the price of materials and energy sur- charges going up. I remember the 1970s and it’s beginning to look like that. I’ve seen that the Bank of England is predict-
ing inflation to hit five per cent before the end of 2021. Just looking at retail books, prices have been relatively stable for a long time but with the well documented infla- tionary pressures building for publishers I would expect them to react by increasing the retail price of books. I would expect to see retail price increase by five per cent and it’s hard to see it going down, there’s not much that would shift it apart from a sudden tumble in oil or gas prices.” He believes that UK library suppliers will be feeling the same pressures on wages in their own businesses as well as book prices rising due to similar pressures fur- ther down the supply chain. He sees this level of inflation having an impact on long term relationships in the business but add- ed “the book trade is particularly resilient during difficult economic conditions.”
Libraries In an interview for CILIP’s Buyers’ Guide that will be published next month, Paul Howarth, Head of Content and Resource Development at Suffolk Libraries, described some of the problems and solutions for public libraries. “One impact is that you will be able to buy less, but this also means your buying power shrinks, which means you may have less influence over prices and terms from suppliers,” but he also suggested that demand could be higher, “If there is a cost-of-living crisis there could be a lot more people who were once hap- py buying books who now need to borrow them.”
Green library card for Royal Borough
THE Royal Borough of Greenwich is claiming to be the first library service in the UK to launch an “eco” library card. The new card, which the service began issuing in the autumn, is full biodegrad- able and is made from ethically sourced materials. The library service is run by GLL for the local council, and the new card is the latest sustainable development from the organisation in the borough. A recent refurbishment at Eltham Library incorporated energy efficient lighting, upcycled furniture and carpet made from recycled materials, among other measures to reduce the impact on the environment. Paul Drumm, GLL’s partnership manager for libraries within the Royal Borough of Greenwich commented: “While changing how we source and manufacture library cards might seem like a small step, the
December 2021
cumulative impact is significant. With over 121,000 cards issued in the borough, equat- ing in size to eight football pitches, this simple move will have a real impact.”
“Traditional lending libraries are the ultimate example of positive recycling, as books are reused multiple times. We are
now exploring how, by embracing modern technologies, we can do much more to help the environment.” The new cards are made from FSC sus- tainable cardboard, which manufacturer Spectrum Plastic say are more sustainable than degradable plastic cards.
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