A UNION has claimed funding cuts have led to increasing numbers of volunteers being asked to help run libraries in North Yorkshire.

The GMB said it had discovered many libraries were under threat of closure or services were being reduced as councils try to save money following public spending reductions.

It named North Yorkshire as one of the areas where this was being seen and said more volunteers were being used in place of full-time staff, with branches being shut and mobile library vans taken off the road.

Brian Strutton, of the GMB, said: “We are going backwards as a nation in that councils are increasingly looking to volunteers to run local libraries or even closing them.”

“Good libraries change lives and transform communities. They should be accessible with suitable opening hours, well-resourced with materials which are regularly refreshed and employing knowledgeable staff.”

Cost-cutting proposals already put forward by North Yorkshire County Council include closing some branch libraries.