Some libraries will have to shut down by the end of the decade unless they are given a complete overhaul, according to new research.
A study has suggested a raft of improvements for the service, but Bonnie Hart, Essex County Council's executive member for lifelong learning and libraries, believes that Essex is already doing everything the report recommends.
She said: "The library service in Essex is one of the best in the country. We are trying to make them one-stop shops by having computers with internet, homework support clubs, reading groups and mother and baby groups."
She thinks the report must refer to other parts of the country when it says "the library service is sleepwalking to disaster" and that the decline "could become terminal by the end of the decade".
She also criticised the report's recommendation for the creation of a new national library development agency.
She said: "Essex is already delivering the things it should be, but it is being delivered by a democratically accountable local authority and not some independent body."
Published Tuesday, May 27, 2003
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