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Presents the results of the report "Who's in Charge," sponsored by the group Libri, on library funding and spending in Great Britain, as of 2004. Decline in the number of library users in the last decade; Recommended changes in library management; Amount spent by the Hampshire community for reading materials.

The article announces that David McMenemy, a British scholar, has been named the 2006 winner of the Elsevier/Library and Information Research Group Award. McMenemy's proposed project involves research into Internet access at public libraries throughout the U.K., which he argues is inconsistent; selective restrictions on Internet use at public libraries have tremendous implications for information access equity.

Reports that visits to libraries in England and Wales have declined by 17 percent since the 1990s and loans have declined by almost a quarter, according to an Audit Commission study. Indication that core services have been neglected while there is an increased Internet use; Role of book superstores in eroding library usage; Recommendations, including an increase in library publicity and library hours suited to local use.

Mentions how book borrowing from public libraries has declined in Great Britain since 1989, according to the library and information statistics unit at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England. Data on the drop in adult fiction; Belief that the cause is from social trends.