MORE than 10,000 people around the county have thrown their weight behind a campaign to protect their library services.

The Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries (FOGL) launched a petition in December last year to protest against proposals by Gloucestershire County Council to change library services and save money.

If the changes go ahead it would see service reductions at many libraries across Gloucestershire and the potential closure of 11 sites if no one from the community steps forward to run them.

Wotton-under-Edge is one of the libraries under threat, with proposals to turn it into a 'Library Link’, which means another organisation would need to share the building or the library would have to move into a community building. The library would also only be manned for a few hours a week and run mainly as a self-service facility.

Meanwhile the county council is proposing to completely relinquish the ownership of Berkeley library, which would mean the community would have to run it or see it close.

The Friends Of Gloucestershire Libraries have been tirelessly campaigning against the proposals and have gained support from celebrities such as novelist Joanna Trollope and Children's Laureate Anthony Browne. The petition has been handed to Gloucestershire County Council's scrutiny team.

As the volume of signatures numbers more than 5,000, the matter will have to be debated by the council before final budget decisions are made.

Chairman of the FOGL Johanna Anderson said she was thrilled with the success of the petition.

"The support we’ve received has been tremendous," she said. "We believe that cutting the already small budget for the library service will not have any meaningful impact on budgets for other services.

"We also believe that wherever you live, services will be affected by cuts or closures elsewhere in Gloucestershire."