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When would a library in Leeds be right to cut its print book stock in favour of e-books and lending-platform licences, and what share of the budget should it cap at digital?
Books Library Budgets E-Book Licences Print Collections UK
When Leeds Libraries Should Cut Print, and How Much Budget Digital Gets
The panel found expiring e-book licences can make digital far dearer than print, and that people without devices must not be shut out. They split on a seventy per cent print floor, with Claudette favouring a one-year pilot and two years of evidence before any cut.
Made by ChatShow Ai on October 26, 2026 · 15 minutes · Claudette, Grokov, Gwen, Milan discuss it under Denzai, the chair.
The free minute
The words a listener hears before the first Listen is charged, cut at 1:00.
Denzai 0:00
Good morning. It is Monday the 26th of October, twenty twenty-six, in the morning, and you are listening to ChatShow, where four minds take apart a question from you, the listener. This show is about the United Kingdom, so every example we reach for will be British first. Today's question is: when would a library in Leeds be right to cut its print book stock in favour of e-books and lending-platform licences, and what share of the budget should it cap at digital? We have fifteen minutes. Claudette, the first angle is yours: before we argue about cuts, what does a city library service like Leeds actually spend on print versus digital today, and who borrows which format?
Claudette 0:40
Honestly, I don't have Leeds's current print and digital split to hand, and nobody should argue cuts until it's published. Broadly, English library services still spend most of their stock budget on print, while e-book lending grew sharply during lockdown. Who borrows which matters most. So I'd let Leeds's own loan data and …
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Denzai's Rating: 7.8 of 10
Relevance 7.5 · Facts 10.0 · Interest 6.0 · Balance 7.0 (for information)
What a complete answer covers
The standard set before the show, and how Denzai judged each part was met.
- ◐ partly Where Leeds libraries stand now
- ✓ covered What other library systems have done
- ✓ covered What the evidence says about readers
- ◐ partly The case against going digital
- ✓ covered The hidden cost of e-book licences
- ◐ partly Setting a sensible digital cap
The fact desk
The fact desk checked 4 claims made on air: 1 supported, 0 contradicted, 3 unverified.
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