This is an interesting short article about a potential not-for-profit organisation, which would replace local councils’ priorities as the main factor in how library services are run.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/131349-coates-announces-library-alliance.html
Looks like a good idea to me. The main benefit would seem to be raising the profile of public libraries through a permanent advocacy organisation. I hope it manages to raise a decent amount of money through donations though, as cuts in public libraries are likely to be savage.
An association like this would prove to councils, and the government who are cutting services, that librares are used and very much wanted. There’s an interesting blog post which really puts into perspective how libraries are really value for money for just how much they provide: http://use-libraries-and-learn-stuff.blogspot.com/2010/10/are-public-libraries-expensive-to-run.html
However, my worry would be that, even with the cuts to budgets, charitable donations wouldn’t be enough to keep up a high standard. Also, personally if it were my donation, I would want a large say in how that money were spent. Could it end up just as biased as local council’s budgets?