The county’s mobile library service is under threat of closure amid dwindling visitor numbers.

Figures have revealed that in the last two years, almost three quarters of the 65 service stops by the county council’s three mobile library vehicles are being used by less than five customers each time. 

Bucks County Council is proposing to discontinue the current service and replace it with a range of options including the Home Library Service, wider provision of online library lending services and working with communities to develop options like ‘click and collect’ schemes. 

Residents are now being asked to give their views on the future of the service as part of an eight week consultation launched on November 1. 

Noel Brown, community engagement and public health chief at the county council, said: “We know that the mobile library service is valued.

"But in recent years, fewer people have been using it; in the last couple of years one-third of the library service stops had only one customer.

"The cost of running the service has also increased to the point that it is now really no longer sustainable.

“We’d like to provide a more flexible, community-based library service that is still easily accessible for our mobile library customers, and a service that can be adapted to suit the differing needs of local communities.

"The idea of this consultation is to hear what people think about our proposals and the alternative options available.

"We hope that as many people as possible will respond to the consultation so that together we can shape a local library service that is better for customers.”

  • Visit www.buckscc.gov.uk to take part in the consultation.