An academy trust will be hosting a range of courses to help adults find employment.

NORTH Somerset Council has announced today (Mon) a three-year plan on how to run the region’s libraries with a reduced budget, and they want to hear your thoughts.

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With the library services budget set to be cut by £347,000 over the next three years, council officers have been working on cost-cutting measures, with a reduction in staff levels and opening hours the main changes.

The ongoing process of installing more self-service machines will continue and the council is encouraging unpaid volunteers to help keep libraries running.

Councillor Felicity Baker, executive member for community services, said the council had analysed how to make libraries more efficient.

She said: “Although we face severe financial pressures, our proposals seek to keep services and not to close libraries as other councils have proposed.

“In recent years we have also seen a significant increase in the number of customers choosing to renew and reserve books, at their convenience, by using our online service, approximately 150,000 online visits each year.

“We want to continue to provide library services to communities that currently get them. For us to do this we are proposing some changes to opening hours and different ways of working, but this is better than closing libraries completely.”

Full details and feedback forms about how each individual library will be affected will be available at libraries from January 16. Alternatively comments can be made by emailing libraryreview2012@n-somerset.gov.uk

The results will be published in April ahead of the changes being introduced in September.

* For more coverage and reaction to the decisions see this week’s paper *