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You do well to highlight the financial pressures on university libraries ("Borrowers' life on the shelf, THES, December 4). But you do them a disservice in ignoring a major cooperative initiative that alleviates these pressures: the eight university library purchasing consortia. Research here for the British Library indicates they effect annual savings of Pounds 3 million on books and serials alone.

David Ball Head of library and information services, Bournemouth University