FINANCIAL DATA

Public libraries are particularly reliant on government funding for their operation, with 93% of their total income of $839.0m in 2003-04 coming from this source. The total expenses of public libraries in 2003-04 were $852.8m, of which $447.7m (53%) were labour costs. Other major expenses were purchases of library materials, and repairs and maintenance.

10.8 INCOME AND EXPENSES OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES - 2003-04
			Local libraries	National and state libraries	All public libraries
			$m	$m	$m
Income
	Government funding
		Australia and state/territory	106.6	259.4	366.0
		Local	415.2	-	415.2
		Total	521.9	259.4	781.2
	Income from services to clients		18.3	12.0	30.3
	Total income(a)		545.2	293.7	839.0
Expenses
	Labour costs		340.8	106.9	447.7
	Telecommunication services		10.9	4.0	15.0
	Repair and maintenance		20.6	9.5	30.1
	Purchases of library materials		47.8	8.2	56.0
	Total expenses(b)		545.2	307.6	852.8
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Total includes other income such as fundraising, sales of goods etc.
(b) Total includes other expenses such as subscription payments, freight, etc.
Source: ABS, Public Libraries, Australia, 2003-04 (cat. no. 8561.0).

The eight national and state archives were also highly dependent on government funding with $97.9m of their total $109.1m income coming from this source in 2003-04. An additional $10.4m came from services to clients. The total expenses of these archives was $107.0m with the greatest expense item being labour costs ($46.3m).

According to Cultural Funding by Government, 2006-07 (cat. no. 4183.0), the Australian Government provided $63.3m towards funding for public libraries in 2006-07, a 5% decrease from the previous year ($66.7m). State and territory government funding of libraries also declined (11%), from $392.7m in 2005-06 to $350.9m in 2006-07.

Similarly, Australian Government funding for archives declined slightly from $67.4m in 2005-06 to $66.5m in 2006-07. State and territory government funding for archives fell by 11% over the same period, from $38.9m to $34.8m.

In contrast, funding of libraries at the local government level increased by 4%, with $619.7m provided by local government in 2006-07, compared with $595.4m in 2005-06.

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