TY - JOUR AB - AS A RESULT of present economic problems in Britain and attendant cuts in spending, there is a need to achieve maximum cost‐effectiveness in all sectors of public spending including libraries. This article examines a simple method by which economies could be made in buying multiple copies of books. It is assumed that unless librarians have freedom to buy a single copy of any book they choose, they will not achieve the breadth and depth required of first‐class libraries, be they in the public sector or in academic institutions. Perhaps second copies need cause little concern, but a pilot survey of a polytechnic library revealed cases where as many as four, six or even eight copies of the same edition had been bought on one occasion before the effectiveness of a lesser purchase could have been evaluated. VL - 80 IS - 8 SN - 0307-4803 DO - 10.1108/eb038445 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/eb038445 AU - Tyson Blake AU - Iwaschkin Roman AU - Mead Gillian AU - Reid David AU - Gillman Peter AU - Ashworth Wilfred AU - Bingley Clive AU - Fleming Edwin AU - Lawson Sarah AU - Hills Kate PY - 1979 Y1 - 1979/01/01 TI - Comment T2 - New Library World PB - MCB UP Ltd SP - 145 EP - 155 Y2 - 2024/04/25 ER -