THE number of stops made by mobile libraries across the county is set to be halved, but council bosses have pledged this will not affect the level of service.

Oxfordshire County Council has launched a review of its mobile library services as it believes people are now using them differently.

It will mean the council’s five mobile libraries will only make about 200 stops across in average every fortnight across Oxfordshire rather than the previous 463.

But the council has said the service’s budget will remain unchanged and the remaining stops will last longer than before.

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County councillor Lorraine Lindsay Gale, the council’s cabinet member for cultural services, said: “It is some time since this service was reviewed. As in any business, customer usage patterns change over time. It is common sense to study those usage patterns and respond with new ways of working that better reflect the current situation.

“This is categorically not about cuts. It is about maximising our existing resources.

“There’s no point in us sending a mobile library to a stop that people no longer use and we need to think about how we can better serve those areas where only very small numbers of people use stops. We are determined that individual people will not miss out.”

To comment on the plans visit oxfordshire.gov.uk/mobilelibaries


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