DEPUTY Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Cornwall Council and Cornwall Councillor for Launceston Central Alex Folkes is calling on the authority to halt a proposal to get rid of all library managers within the county.

At present, there are 30 library managers in Cornwall, each with responsibility for one or sometimes two branches. These are highly trained and specialised staff who do an excellent job in a very streamlined service which is rated very highly by the public. These managers have been asked to either seek voluntary redundancy or to apply for one of just 11 new posts with such titles as stock manager, youth services manager or locality manager. Individual managers will, in the future be run by a new grade of senior library assistant. 

"I've talked to a large number of people in the library service since I became aware of these plans at the end of last week," said Cllr Folkes. "None of the people I've talked to is happy about the proposal and all think it will result in a diminished service.

"There are two key issues involved. First — what would the impact be of these changes on the level of service in our libraries. Our staff are excellent, but this proposal will axe the most experienced leadership. The quality of service can only go down if we lose up to 19 top managers. 

"Second — why have councillors been sidelined yet again in this decision making process. The communities scrutiny committee has discussed library savings many times over the last few months, yet this proposal has never been mentioned. Members of the specialist library working group were also kept in the dark. If it could have an impact on the level of service our residents receive then we should be informed first."

Cllr Folkes added:?"I have written to Steve Double, the Conservative Cabinet Support Member who is meant to be in charge of libraries asking for an explanation. Cllr Double needs to explain why he wants to strip our library service of our best staff. I have also asked for the this issue to be considered as an urgent matter at Thursday's meeting of the communities scrutiny committee."