Book Collections: Disposal (Hansard, 21 April 1988)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)
My Lords, the Government do not control the sale or dispersal of books from individual institutions. On the broader issue of specialised collections and their dispersal, my right honourable friend the Minister for the Arts is currently considering advice from the reviewing committee on the export of works of art.

§ Lord St. John of Fawsley
My Lords, may I presume to congratulate my noble friend on adding the arts to agriculture in her list of responsibilities in this House? Perhaps I may ask her whether she is aware that unfortunately last week one of the most scandalous acts ever perpetrated by an institution of higher learning took place when Manchester University sold 98 rare books from the Rylands collection contrary to the express wishes of the original owners. In view of what the Minister has said about export, can she ensure that these treasures are not exported and lost to this country? In future before such sales take place, would it be possible for an inquiry to be held, conducted by an independent group of scholars other than those concerned in the sale and dispersal of such a collection?

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, despite the beguiling start to my noble friend's supplementary question, as regards the first part of it I wonder whether he has seen today's issue of Country Life in which the director of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester said: under no cirumstances would this library break the terms of a gift or bequest which required that collections be kept intact. In founding this memorial to her late husband Mrs. Rylands made express provision that books might be sold, exchanged or otherwise disposed of. This provision was perpetuated in the legal document which transferred the John Rylands Library to the University of Manchester in 1972". Books worth 16,000 or more and which have been in this country for over 50 years require an export licence. If any are referred to the reviewing committee they would be assessed against the Waverley criteria in the usual way.

§ Lord Strabolgi
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that notable books are rarely duplicates? That was the excuse made by Rylands for selling theirs. Is the Minister also aware that this is a breach of faith 1623 with those making bequests? Will the Government ensure that this kind of sale does not happen again mainly as a result of the starvation of funds.

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, I have already said that my right honourable friend is looking at the submissions of the review committee. He will be making up his mind what further action to take when he has decided on the results of his considerations.

§ Lord Peston
My Lords, would the noble Baroness care to answer the second part of my noble friend's question and say whether the Government have any view as to why universities are having to sell these books? Is it not because they are desperately short of money, which is needed for serious higher education purposes.

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, recurrent funding for universities is being increased by £61 million in 1988–89, which means an increase of some 8 per cent. following an increase of 10 per cent. which was made last year. The University Grants Committee has specifically made available from 1987–88 an additional £3 million per annum over three years for the purchase of books and periodicals. It is a matter for the universities. The UGC itself decides on how it allocates its resources.

§ Baroness Birk
My Lords, perhaps I may add my congratulations to the noble Baroness. I hope that she will fight as stalwartly in the interests of the arts as she does as regards all her other responsibilities.
Have we not been assured in this House that the Minister for the Arts intends to bring in legislation to allow the three great museums and galleries to sell paintings if they so wish? Does the Minister agree that it would be far better if this proposal were dropped and legislation brought in to prevent book collections being sold? Is it not the case—and this has already been briefly referred to—that since the universities are gravely underfunded, their libraries are completely starved of resources? This makes it difficult for them to allocate money to preserve the stocks of very old books, where conservation is essential. Therefore there will be a temptation in the future to sell collections, and that temptation may increase.

§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, I fear that I cannot go down the picture path this afternoon because in this Question we are dealing strictly with books. As I said, it is for the universities themselves to allocate their grant. The full details of university expenditure are published in Volume 3 of University Statistics, which is available in the Library. The final figures for the year 1986–87 and for the current academic year are not yet available. It is up to the universities and not the Government.