Powys County Council aims to halve cost of running libraries
Powys County Council is looking at cost-cutting measures in a bid to save 50 per cent of its running costs on libraries
The authority wants to make £250,000 of efficiency savings between 2016 and 2019 on its 11 libraries.
It has said that £100,000 is to be found this year, and £150,000 next year.
Discussions on the 11 branch libraries have taken place, and 'community partnerships' are planned to be put in place to save half of the money.
A major consultation was carried out in the spring and summer of last year with councils and schools.
The council proposed to save the money through voluntary positions such as work experience, improving ICT solutions in rural areas, and staff development.
On staff development, a paper that was discussed by the council stated: "While we have taken advantage of natural wastage and voluntary redundancies as part of achieving budgetary targets, the introduction of new services and ways of delivering our libraries make it crucial that we invest in our staff, and ensure that they continue to be highly trained and knowledgeable about our core services."
