Fidelity analyzed book procurement at „Radosav Ljumović“ Library: Paying up to €100 per copy, that's called corruption in a decent society
Consulting firm Fidelity Consulting claims that the average price of books purchased by the National Library „Radosav Ljumović“ from publisher Nova knjiga increased from around €12.50 to approximately €100 per copy between 2023 and 2025, arguing that such a dramatic rise warrants a thorough review of the public procurement procedures.
Fidelity analyzed the operations of the National Library „Radosav Ljumović“, which has recently been in the public spotlight after the institution's governing board voted to rename it after Marko Miljanov.
The consulting firm recalled that the government had promised citizens the „Europe Now 3“ programme, significantly higher salaries and pensions, „along with Hanukkah honey and milk flowing from the udders of Angus cows“.
- And while it has completely failed to deliver on those promises (and many others), one public institution has taken the idea of a „promise“ to another level: the average purchase price of a book has increased eightfold in just three years! Let's uncover a classic corruption scheme that we affectionately call siphoning off public money through books - the company wrote in a post on X.
The analysis covers three book procurement procedures carried out by the National Library „Radosav Ljumović“ over a three-year period, with publishing company Nova knjiga serving as the supplier in all three cases. The focus of the analysis is the number of books purchased and the average price per copy.
- In 2023, the library purchased 590 books for €7,428, averaging around €12.50 per book, roughly what you would expect to pay in a bookstore. A perfectly ordinary, market-based procurement. In 2024, it purchased 1,016 books and educational publications for €25,000, or about €25 per item. Nearly twice as expensive as the previous year, but let's not overreact - that included picture books, educational kits and encyclopaedias. In 2025, however, it purchased just 497 books, the fewest in the three-year period, for €50,000, the highest total expenditure. That's €100 per book - the post states.
According to Fidelity, while the number of books purchased declined, the average price per copy rose from €12.50 to €100 over two years.
- An eightfold increase in the price of a book! But you'll probably say: inflation! So what does Montenegro's statistical office, Monstat, say? Total inflation in Montenegro over those two years amounted to seven per cent. A book that cost €12.50 in 2023 would, according to official statistics, cost around €13.50 today. The library is paying €100. Monstat says seven per cent, the library says 800 per cent. Mashallah - the post adds.
The company says it reviewed every book on the 2025 procurement list - all 497 titles. According to the analysis, the most expensive books retail for about €100.
- But there are only around 15 such books. The remaining 480 or so are novels costing roughly €15 each by authors such as Bukowski, Fante and Hamsun. Interestingly, 17 titles by Vesna Dedić were purchased at an average price of €100 each, including Take Care of Me, which appears to have been bought twice, just to be on the safe side. Another of the same author's books, I Lost Myself („Izgubila sam sebe“), was purchased in 2023, 2024 and 2025, because this library apparently loses it every year - just as it lost a substantial amount of taxpayers' money through this public procurement - the post says.
According to Fidelity, the pattern is clear: the same buyer and the same supplier have been signing the same type of contract year after year, with the price per book steadily increasing - from €12.50, to €25, to €100.
- That is what, in a decent society, is called corruption. Here, however, it is described as a „successfully completed procurement procedure“. The only remaining question (to which we already know the answer, haha) is: who was involved in the 2025 public procurement of books at these prices - the post concludes.