A CONSULTATION on the future of Liverpool’s library service is underway.

The service needs to save £2m (about 29 per cent) from its 2011/12 budget and difficult decisions about how this will affect the current provision need to be made.

The city council is asking residents to fill in the online questionnaire which is designed to explore the views of customers and give them the opportunity to have their say on what savings should be made.

Some of the options include having fewer libraries, only opening venues on certain days of the week, changing hours of operation, encouraging volunteers to help run the service or have organisations other than the city council responsible for the running the libraries.

Liverpool City Council’s Head of libraries, Joyce Little, said: “Due to the savings which have to be made, we will not be able to continue to operate the service the way it is run now.

“We need to look at ways in which we can make the library provision much more efficient and reduce the cost and are already streamlining back office services to help achieve essential savings.

“It’s essential we have as much input as possible from residents to find out key information such as which libraries are visited the most, what times of day or week are they used and would members of the public be willing to pay for any services such as the internet.

“I encourage as many people as possible to fill out the questionnaire to help us shape the future of the city’s libraries.”

The questionnaire can be found at www.liverpool.gov.uk/consultation and will be available until Friday 22 April.  Some paper copies will be available in libraries.

All the feedback will be analysed, and proposals will be drawn up during the summer.

The service currently operates Central Library, 20 community libraries, a mobile service and a home delivery service.  It offers a service which involves providing a wide range of materials including books and DVDs, giving free public access to computers and organising special events for children and adults.