New chapter for city’s libraries

IT’S ironic that a campaign against library cuts in Scotland is choosing to launch in Edinburgh in a library that will shortly see an increase in its opening hours and in a city where we are building new libraries and refurbishing existing ones (News, 19 February).

We have listened to the views of over 10,000 library and potential library users through one of the biggest consultation exercises we have ever carried out. Our response has been to propose that £300,000 be allocated in the 2012/13 council budget to retain Sunday opening in all six libraries where it currently exists and that a further three libraries will increase their opening hours from 32 to 42 per week. It will result in longer Saturday service at 15 libraries to reflect customer demand.

The City of Edinburgh Council is planning for and delivering a modern library service, fit for future generations. Edinburgh is investing in libraries at a time when some other local authorities are closing theirs and we aim to deliver savings without library closures or staff redundancies.

Cllr Deidre Brock, City of Edinburgh Council