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Have You Been To The New Douglas Library In Vict Street...


manxchatterbox

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You might remember that the Library was relocated to a building over three floors and a basement in Victoria Street which is owned by a commercial developer.

 

Instead of owning its own Library building the Corporation has taken a lease....now the landlord wants a rent increase of 13%...

 

Do you think it was right to allow a commercial developer to profit in such a way....

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to how the Library could generate an income to offset its costs...

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now the landlord wants a rent increase of 13%...

Does anyone have any ideas as to how the Library could generate an income to offset its costs...

 

Seems okay.

 

Do you think it was right to allow a commercial developer to profit in such a way....

 

Yes.

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to how the Library could generate an income to offset its costs...

 

Porn.

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I must declare that i am such a fan of the library, ive been a member for over 40 years.

 

I visited last on saturday. I like the new set up but miss the old one a lot, it felt like a library! but in the end its all about books, not the shelves.

 

Renting seems odd but the town hall was/is cramped so something had to go, shame it was the library. Libraries from concept were looked upon as a public service, like street lighting, and as such were not expected to generate revenue, that is not to say thay should waste money, rather they should run efficiently and within budget. Of late the mercenary forces in DC have struck, raising fine levels too punative levels, i was mistakenly fined for overdue something like £20. big blow if you are a pensioner. Fortunatly Mr Christian has seen the error of his ways and because of VOTER complaints, they have announced reductions in fines.

 

So i think some charges are necessary but to try to make a library pay? no, its one of the few truly public services we have left.

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I agree with Mollag. This is a public service which should be accessible to all - not limited because of profit.

 

The present set up in my view is far better than the previous situation in the Town Hall and the staff are very attentive and friendly. However there seems to be less people reading the daily newspapers than before.

 

Nowadays if you've lose your card, it does not matter as they can still access your details on their computer.

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A lease can save the corpy money; depends upon what the capital costs would be to buy ... I can imagine the MCB topic ... "Is it right that Douglas are paying out millions for a new library ... isn't this a national library and shouldn't it be paid for by the government?"

 

Compared to the budget and capital costs of owning the building and the on going maintenance costs ... I'd think leasing a building is probably a good deal.

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Yes, leasing can be a good way of amortising costs against income rather than a capital spend which may not.

 

All in all, this is just another MCB thread intended to shake us to our very bones, but really ain't nothing anyway!

 

PS Double negative there for effect!

 

PPS Anyone hear the outcry about Douglas Corporation leases and the anomolies? Very simple, get a lawyer to review the leases and make the terms consistent. It sounds like the same lease terms have been used and amended over the years leading to daft contradictions! Just a housekeeping exercise, I suspect.

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