Longer library hours boost

Library users in Dudley furious about closures across the borough have been given a boost with the announcement remaining sites are to extend their opening hours.

Facilities in Dudley, Stourbridge, Kingswinford and Gornal will be the first to open for longer as part of the council's controversial modernisation programme.

Members have complained bitterly about the £2.6 million scheme, saying communities would suffer without the five libraries being axed under the plans.

The money saved on the five sites, including outlets in Amblecote, Wall Heath and Woodside, is being spent on remodelling Wordsley Green Library and creating smaller link libraries.

These facilities, in Dudley Wood, Quarry Bank and Woodside, will stock about 1,500 books and open for 10 hours a week.

The news the remaining larger sites are to open longer is being introduced following feedback from members.

Dudley and Stourbridge libraries will be the first to introduce Sunday opening from June 22.

Both will open from 10am to 2pm each Sunday and will also open longer on Wednesday evenings.

Kingswinford Library will extend opening by 12 hours a week, including new hours on Thursdays, while Gornal Library will open for an extra 15-and-a-half hours a week.

The new timetables will come into effect on June 23, and will cushion the blow of the Wall Heath closure two days earlier.

The refurbishment of Wordsley Green Library is scheduled to start in September.

Councillor Michael Evans, cabinet member responsible for libraries, said: "Extending the opening hours, including Sunday opening, of well-used libraries is as a result of feedback from users. We will also be introducing four new library links."

Opening hours at other borough libraries will be extended by 75 hours in total before March 2009.