Thousands of languishing library books could be auctioned off by Stirling Council to free up space and raise funds to plough back into the service.
Council officers have acknowledged there may be “public concern” at the proposed sale of library books – but said safeguards would protect anything of local or particular significance and it was a process for managing redundant stock.
Councillors on the community wellbeing and housing committee unanimously approved the move at a meeting this week.
Officers had sought approval for a further review of the collection by an auction house to identify books of interest and removal of these titles for sale, noting that all items with a local connection would be excluded from the process and retained by the service.
Proceeds from the sale, minus commission and costs, would be committed to the library transformation fund reserve and there would be no charge by the auction house for review, removal and sale of books, with their commission likely to be around 15-per cent on the sale of any items.
A report submitted to the committee by officials said: “In addition to office space, Stirling Council’s Library Headquarters houses an extensive collection of book stock. Some of this is an active resource for the Mobile Library Service and other forms of outreach, but there are also a number of bays of mid-20th century, non-fiction stock.
“Many of these books are outdated and rarely used. There are approximately 8,000 books of this type shelved in rolling stacks. There is a further, small collection of historical books from Central Library, which are very old, and not requested.
“Officers routinely review stock and withdraw titles in poor condition or in little demand. These books are ordinarily boxed, and collected by the charity Book Donors, which brings in a small amount of income for the council.
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“In 2024-25, Stirling Council established a Library Transformation Fund, intended to support the transformation of library services to be fit for the future. The fund is a reserve, with an unspent balance of £100,000.”
The report said initial investigations indicated some titles in the collection might have resale value and a small number of much older books merited closer examination.
It added: “Libraries staff have worked with officers in procurement to establish how best to determine value within the collection and how to minimise any risk that might be associated with disposal of such books.”
Two antiquarian booksellers had already shown interest in the oldest titles, estimating these to be worth several thousand pounds. Opinions differed on the larger collection, with the number of library markings on the books seen as a likely deterrent to buyers.
An auctioneer, however, had also shown interest in the oldest books and spent some time looking through the more extensive collection, indicating they would be willing to attend with staff and identify books of value from the whole collection.
The report added: “The auctioneer provided a report following their visit and gave an initial estimate of value of £25,000 to £35,000 for sale of all the books concerned, before commission.
“The sale of library books is likely to attract public attention and any books with a local connection, or which have been in demand previously, would be removed from any sent for sale.
“Officers would work with the bookseller or auctioneer to categorise books as being of local interest if: they were written by an author born in or associated with the wider Stirling area; the subject matter was in any way pertaining to the local area; or the publisher was, or had been, locally based.
“There should be very limited risk of books that are of local interest being overlooked in this exercise, as many are already stored separately for that reason, and the shared expertise of library staff, and the bookseller or auctioneer, would reduce the risk further as the wider sale of stock was undertaken.
“The council’s archives service has severely limited space for their collection. An additional advantage of this change in approach would be the space freed up by the sale of book stock which would allow all historical newspapers to be relocated to Library Services Headquarters, still available to view, on request.”
Committee chair, Labour councillor Gerry McGarvey, said it should not be perceived as “selling off the family jewellery”.
Library officers said there was always a “very considered” approach to stock management and best value from everything bought by the service, with books withdrawn only when not borrowed at all or if in a very poor condition.
Conservative councillor Martin Earl said he understood the rationale for the plans and the safeguards in place were “quite sensible”, but agreed it could be a “very sensitive presentational issue” with “the capacity to be misunderstood”.
He questioned whether there was a risk of letting books go which could be worth holding onto as “rare books are often an investment vehicle in the same way art is” but was reminded of the space issues, and told by Head of People and Community Wellbeing, Kate Hudson: “I don’t necessarily think as a strategy of retaining assets for a rainy day. I feel the day is raining.”
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