A THREAT to 18 rural libraries in Cumbria has sparked anger from users, who fear another local lifeline is about to be lost.

More than a third of the county’s 48 libraries and three mobile units could go as part of a radical review of its £6m service.

Cumbria County Council – which has stressed that the proposals are not a cost-cutting move – says it plans to modernise its larger libraries instead.

The organisation added that it could offer a book ordering service, via computers at local shops and pubs, as an alternative to maintaining a traditional library.

Bosses said libraries which opened fewer than 20 hours a week, including Sedbergh, Shap and Askam-in-Furness, might close to fund hi-tech enhancements, such as free Skype points, at major centres.

Libraries and museums officer Jim Grisenthwaite said the council wanted to ‘reinvent the concept of the village library’ to encourage more people to access books.

“We’ve got to buck the emotional attachment with library buildings.

"You can provide a service without the building or the staff.

“People who want to keep libraries open tend to be quite articulate and vociferous, but other tax payers also have a right to be heard.”

Although the council will begin public consultation on Monday, Mr Grisenthwaite said he already believed the authority would scrap the mobile library, which has 3,000 active users.

Council chiefs denied the review would lead to redundancies but said they expected to stop filling 300 library posts in a ‘process of contraction’.

But national storyteller laureate Taffy Thomas, who works with com-munities and schools across Cumbria, said: “Closing these libraries would be a huge mistake.

"They are the universities of the common man and once closed will never be reopened.

Sedbergh Parish Council chair Hilary Hodge said the library, which opens for 13 hours, did an ‘enormous amount for an elderly community’ and improved the quality of people’s lives.

“The suggestion our library could be replaced by a catalogue system in a shop is nonsense.

"We are supposed to be England’s book town and the idea we might not have a library is embarrassing.”

Shap Parish Council chair Jean Jackson said: “We will fight to keep our fine library open.

"It’s far too valuable to lose in an area that’s short of services already.

Mobile library vans which tour the county visiting small rural communities look like disappearing under the review.

“I can see them going,” said the county council’s Jim Grisenthwaite.

“They are old and new ones would cost £100,000 to build.”

The service covers routes across the entire county, with each vehicle visiting around 10 villages each day.

Popular stops, such as Burton-in-Kendal, attract more than 20 readers on each weekly visit.

Age UK South Lakeland director Sonia Mangan said older people would be hit hardest if the service was axed.

“This will worry many elderly people who use the service to pick up books, and more importantly, to connect with others.

"We will have to try to make their voices heard.”

Grayrigg resident Barbara Hutcheon 62, who uses the library on its half-hour stop each month, said: “I’m in a wheelchair and can’t drive.

"I love books but I can’t get them home from town.”

A county spokesman said: “Cumbria is mirroring the national trend which shows a sharp decline in usage of libraries.

“In the last five years in Cumbria there has been a 20 per cent drop in visitor numbers and half a million fewer items have been borrowed from libraries.

“Three ageing and unreliable library vans also have to cover the second largest county in England – meaning most mobile library service users only get a visit every six weeks.”