The study was undertaken by Oxford Economics on behalf of the British Library and is publicly available to read on the BL website http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/increasingvalue/index.html

The reports key findings showed that:

• The economic value the Library delivers for society is £5 for every £1 invested.

• The Library generates a net economic value of £419m for its users and UK society as a whole.

• The benefit cost ratio increased to 4.9 from 4.4 in 2003. Accounting for value placed on the Library internationally, the benefit cost ratio is 5.1.

• The value of the Library’s Reading Rooms as estimated by their users is £70m per annum, including over £20m for the Business & IP Centre which was launched in 2006.

• The value that the public places on the continued existence of the Library is £412.8m per annum.

This report is a further indicator highlighting the fact that Arts and Culture generate 0.4% of the UK’s Gross Domestic Product with less than 0.1% of government spending, according to a new report into the economic contribution of arts and culture by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

The Lost Arts Campaign website has more information about the cuts to the arts around the country and the losses that this key area has sustained so far. It can be found at http://www.lost-arts.org/