Liverpool City Council is preparing to hand over five libraries to local community groups to run, according to an article in the Liverpool Echo.
The five libraries are to be transferred to local groups to manage as part of wider cost-cutting measures instigated by the council. It follows a reprieve for 11 libraries threatened with closure last year.
According to the Echo, the Chartered Instituted of Library Information and Professionals (CILIP) president Jan Parry will also chair a task group looking at the future of the city's library service.
Authors including Alan Gibbons and Cathy Cassidy have campaigned to keep Liverpool's libraries open.
Some months ago, Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson warned that all the city's libraries could be closed by 2017 if the Conservatives won the election and council budget cuts continued.
Speaking to The Bookseller, Alan Gibbons said he believed in the central principle of council-run services and trained librarians. He said he regarded the move as a "retrograde" step and meant the future of the libraries was uncertain.
The five libraries are to be transferred to local groups to manage as part of wider cost-cutting measures instigated by the council. It follows a reprieve for 11 libraries threatened with closure last year.
According to the Echo, the Chartered Instituted of Library Information and Professionals (CILIP) president Jan Parry will also chair a task group looking at the future of the city's library service.
Authors including Alan Gibbons and Cathy Cassidy have campaigned to keep Liverpool's libraries open.
Some months ago, Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson warned that all the city's libraries could be closed by 2017 if the Conservatives won the election and council budget cuts continued.
Speaking to The Bookseller, Alan Gibbons said he believed in the central principle of council-run services and trained librarians. He said he regarded the move as a "retrograde" step and meant the future of the libraries was uncertain.
