"A SECOND class stamp, please - oh, and can you recommend a first class detective novel?"

That's the kind of the request that will now be commonplace in Severn Beach with the opening of a library in the village post office.

The venture - the first of its kind in the South West - sees the PO's back room transformed into a mini lending library with a range of books including fiction, general interest, children's and large print books.

The facilities came about after the Severn Beach regeneration group ran a local survey which showed real public interest in the scheme.

Postmistress Heather Davolls and husband Rick had a room going spare and thanks to a South Gloucestershire Council grant and support from the library service which is providing the books, the scheme is now off the ground.

"It's going to be a real asset to the village," said ward councillor Peter Tyzack.

"We have had fortnightly visits from the mobile library but it's been known to break down on occasions and having a permanent facility will be much better all round.

"We are one of the first places in the whole country to have a library in a post office and certainly the first in the West Country. A grant from the area forum took care of the shelving and decorating and B&Q came up with some paint."

"The library already has a stock of around 1000 fiction titles which will be rotated by the mobile library and a non fiction section is gradually being built up. There is even a reference section thanks to book contributions form local residents. We have now applied to the Countryside Agency for funds for a computer Internet connection."

Cllr Tyzack said inquiries were already being received from other villages interested is setting up similar schemes.

Cllr Shirley Potts, South Gloucestershire Council executive member for community services, said:" Every day a post office closes somewhere in Britain and services get poorer in isolated communities. This is an excellent example of people deciding to do something about it for themselves."

The opening of the new library comes in the wake of a recent report suggesting the nation's libraries are in "terminal decline".

In South Gloucestershire, however, readers have bucked this national trend with more residents using the service in the past 12 months than the previous year. More than 900,000 visits were made to libraries in the district 2003, a four percent increase. More than 1.3 million books were read with a nine percent increase in the lending of children's books.