Village Campaigns to Save LibraryFriday Feb 8
Residents of a Kent village are being urged to triple their borrowing from the local library as part of a campaign to save it from closure.
Kent County Council wants to close the library in Horsmonden, situated within the village primary school, and replace it with a mobile service instead.
It said in order to be sustainable the library needed to attract more visitors and lend more books.
Horsmonden Parish Council has urged those not already members to join.
It said it had been holding discussions with Kent County Library Services since last February, and had negotiated a trial period lasting until the end of April to try to double the membership and triple borrowing.
Kent County Council (KCC) had previously planned to close the library at the end of March.
Following a parish council meeting earlier this week, a statement said it was "bemused and disappointed" at the decision to close the library despite record borrowing figures over the last six months.
"The position of the library within the school gives it a special place within the community.
'Alternative proposals'
"Closure of the library will mean more car journeys, more carbon emissions and less independence for vulnerable residents as a mobile service will be a wholly inadequate replacement."
But KCC spokesman Mike Hill said levels of use still remained low and the service was no longer meeting the needs of the local community and was not providing value for money.
"We have proposed to replace it with a mobile service for the village, outreach activity such as story times held in local venues, the promotion of the existing Home Library Service and a selection of suitable books are expected to remain within the school.
"We have agreed to delay implementing the closure to give the Parish Council members a final chance to come up with alternative proposals for future delivery of a service in the village," he said.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk Wednesday 6th February 2008
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