RESIDENTS are being asked what they want their library service to look like as councillors seek to almost halve the amount of money they spend on them.

Reading Borough Council is launching its public consultation as part of a wide-ranging series of cuts to reduce the authority's overall budget by £39m over the next four years.

An estimated £600,000 needs to be saved from the library budget which will require a 42 per cent reduction in spending.

Councillors say they are being forced into making the cuts because of reductions in the amount of money they receive from central government.

Leader of the council Cllr Jo Lovelock said there was no "blueprint sitting in the cupboard" and that residents' opinions will be central to how they approach the cuts.

She said: "If they have ideas of how they would use the library if it was different then we need to listen to that."

The consultation will be available online and in paper at public buildings and will give neighbours a chance to share what they think of the borough's seven libraries as well as additional services including the toy library and mobile service.

Since the 2009/10 financial year the council has already reduced its spending in the department from £2.2m to £1.4m and lost 22 members of staff.

To aid in the decision making process officers have compiled a large amount of data on each location.

A cost per visit analysis has revealed Caversham Library to be the most cost effective site at 97p per visitor.

Whitley Library came out roughly three times more expensive per person at £2.75.

Central Library has seen a number of changes recently with other council and voluntary sector services making use of the building - a space saving idea which leaders want to expand on.

Cllr Paul Gittings, lead councillor culture, sport and consumer services, said: "At this juncture absolutely no decisions have been made on closures of any libraries and councillors have not even been presented with any options of closures yet.

"We want to be able to gauge from people how they use their libraries, what they want to see in their libraries and whether they would want to volunteer in their local library."

If members of the council's policy committee approve the planned consultation it will go live at www.reading.gov.uk/libraryreview from October 12 with results expected next February.