Frankly, I suspect that the British Library is reaping the result of decades of underfunding and under-preparing for such an eventuality despite quite clearly being a target.
This is especially the case in government orgs and those close to them which are old and extremely bureaucratic. There are many good people in these organisations who should be paid more in many cases, but they are severely limited by the system.
I find it hard to see that this wasn't something expected by many in the know at multiple levels within the British Library. Now it's an even bigger mess that they are ill-equipped to respond to.
IT/technology is just abnormally overpaid as a whole. I'm not saying it shouldn't be, just that it is.
This is less about the pay of any individual working there, but a culture of underinvestment which the UK public sector has been undergoing for the past 15 years.
It's going on for much longer than that. It's hard to think of a time when there was investment. It's also hard to think of a time when the individuals and teams who could have prevented this would be given the respect that they deserve. This is a problem in the UK that extends beyond the UK public sector because a lot of the management in large organisations has some cultural similarities.
In the UK, IT/technology is arguably underpaid, compared to the value it generates. Just remember the TSB IT meltdown last year. (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/20/tsb-bank-fi...)
The average salary for a solicitor is ~£70,000
https://www.checkasalary.co.uk/salaries/solicitor
The average salary for IT is ~£50,000
https://www.checkasalary.co.uk/salaries/information-technolo...
For a software engineer ~£60,000.
There is no such thing as a normal salary. People are paid what the market demands.
We're not serfs. If one job offers more compensation than another everyone is entitled to leave and go elsewhere.