You can have YOUR chance to have your say about reduced opening hours at Ashby Library.

During 2013, Leicestershire County Council announced that it was facing its biggest ever financial challenge. They consulted widely about how to respond to this challenge.

Based on the feedback to this consultation, they are aiming to prioritise, as far as possible, services for vulnerable people, but believe that the public is also open to ideas about how this service could be delivered differently by the community.

From 7 April to 7 July 2014 the county council is consulting on the following proposal:

• Continue to operate the 16 most-used libraries but reduce their opening hours
  in Ashby this would be from 35 to 31 hours a week.
• Support communities to run the other 36 local libraries – if community groups do not come forward, some libraries may close

These changes are being proposed because:

• From 2015, the council plans to save £800,000 per year from its current £5.6 million libraries budget
• People are increasingly using E-books and the internet instead of borrowing books from libraries
• Libraries are increasingly being used as community hubs, hosting a series of activities

Your views are important so that we can better understand how the proposals could affect you and how we can make these changes work best for you.

The consultation is taking place from today 7 April till 7 July and full details are on www.leics.gov.uk/haveyoursay/futurelibraries, including dates and venues of public meetings in May and June and other consultation events.

For general enquires or comments about this consultation phone 0116 305 7034 or email futurelibraries@leics.gov.uk