NORTHUMBERLAND County Council is planning to slash £200,000 from its library services budget over the next three years.

The council announced this week that the six-figure savings would have to be made from the service, in a move which would be achieved through a ‘consolidated, more sustainable, network of buildings, increased collaborative provision and a wider digital offer’.

However, the council’s cabinet has agreed to spend up to £100,000 from its reserves to help support the transformation of libraries, by buying additional books and enhancing the range of digital resources. A library services manager has also been recently appointed to remodel the library service.

At the meeting of the Northumberland County Council cabinet on Tuesday, councillors agreed to hold a 12-week consultation to gather people’s opinions on how libraries should operate.

An internal review carried out by the county council in 2017 found that the library service had significantly reduced the number of staff across the county but had not supported digital developments to enable customers to access available library services more easily.

Coun. Cath Homer, cabinet member for culture, leisure, tourism and arts, said visitor numbers had decreased by 11.5 per cent, the number of books issued had fallen by 31 per cent and membership levels had declined by 12 per cent.

Despite the decline, there had been an increase of over 52 per cent of users registering to the digital My Library services.

Coun. Homer said: “We cannot underestimate what a fragmented service it was when we inherited it in 2017. A third of the staff had been made redundant. We need a service that meets the demands of our communities.”

County Councillor for Corbridge, Nick Oliver, added: “From a local perspective, the libraries are in a better place than they were two years ago. This is the beginning of some really stable investment.”