Coventry’s libraries are lagging behind new national standards and need millions of pounds of investment to avoid being taken over by the government.

The city council-run libraries fall below the point at which the government will intervene in nine out of 23 categories.

To avoid government intervention would cost an extra £214,000 a year compared to existing levels. After five years this would rise to £289,000.

The council only meets the standard level in four sections. The standard level – which all local authorities should be aiming to achieve – is calculated by the performance of the top 25 per cent.

Cathy Goodwin, Strategic Director (Lifelong Learning) has revealed in a report that it would cost £544,870 a year extra to meet the new standard, rising to £619,870 in five years. In total that is £2.8 million.

Currently, the Library Service is expected to save £100,000 from its budget.

This means that the city council has to find an extra £1.5 million over the next five years compared to current plans to avoid the government taking over chunks of its service.

To reach the standard for opening hours would be the equivalent of three new libraries in the city, while the levels of funding for buying books would have to rise by nearly 50 per cent.

The failing areas include:

• annual expenditure on books and other printed materials
• annual expenditure on  other materials, such as recorded music and CD ROMs
• replacement rate for books
• the number of items added to the collection each year
• aggregate opening hours
• the availability of one service (ie the central library) for more than 65 hours a week
• the proportion of staff who are professionals and the proportion of the population who actively borrow books.
• computer and information technology provision

The results of a survey of people’s views of the library are expected soon. These will cover four more of the standards.

• the city council reaches the standard level in four areas:
• the issue period of books
• the number of visits to the library
• the number of libraries with access to an on-line catalogue the speed of supply of requested items

Cllr Gary Crookes (Conservative, Wainbody), the opposition spokesman on library provision said he was concerned at the standards set by the government.

He said:

”If 50 per cent of local authorities aren’t meeting these then I can see them being lowered, otherwise there’s going to be a lot of shouting.

“I’ve never had a complaint about the library service. We have to see if the demand is there for these increases.”