Use the town library or lose it, warn councillors (From Malvern Gazette)

Use the town library or lose it, warn councillors

9:00am Sunday 5th February 2012 in News By Tarik Al Rasheed

UPTON Town Council will issue a “use it or lose it”

warning as part of an initiative aimed at ensuring the future of the town’s library.

The town council has already been working with the library, which – like others across Worcestershire – is under review as the county council looks to slash spending.

But now it is readying to step up its efforts in a bid to ensure Upton library is not one of the facilities hit as £1.8 million – 28 per cent – of the annual libraries spend is cut.

At a full town council meeting on Tuesday evening, Councillor Paul Bennett said: “It is simply a matter of usage. If the numbers go up then we will not be under threat, and we must do more to ensure that this is the case.”

And Coun Simon Speers added: “There is a squeeze coming, and unless we do everything we can to make our library an all-singing, alldancing facility then there could be trouble.

“If we bury our heads in the sand then a decision will be taken out of our hands.”

It was decided that Coun Speers would be joined by Couns Peter Webb and Pat Martin on a new library support working party.

One of this group’s responsibilities is likely to be producing a newsletter advertising the library’s range of services and highlighting the council’s “use it or lose it”

message.

It will also look to work closely with Malvern Hills District Council and to encourage more engagement with local schools.

Town mayor Andrea Morgan feels the formation of the working group is a step in the right direction.

“I think part of our role is to find out how we can help and this will allow us to liaise with the library to do exactly that,” she said.