Library looks at user-pays

One of the traditional pillars of public libraries - free books - looks set to tumble in Tauranga with the introduction of a 50c charge for all adult fiction and non-fiction. The council wants to reduce ratepayers' $6 million contribution to the $6.7 million annual cost of running the city's libraries. Ending free adult fiction and non-fiction was the biggest component of a plan to boost user-pays by $430,000 a year for the next three years. Children and teenage fiction and non-fiction will remain free.