Sir, – Tomorrow is National Libraries Day and, perhaps coincidentally, the final day for submissions to the North Yorkshire County Council’s public consultation on strategy for managing the library service as part of the next round of funding cuts.

It is already clear that the most favoured option by our local politicians is to rely heavily on volunteers to staff libraries, together with several library closures. Savings will be made as many of the present professional and experienced staff lose their jobs.

There are over 200 reading groups in North Yorkshire. The Hunton book group, to which I belong, started in September 2007 entirely through the encouragement of a member of the Richmond Library staff taking the trouble to organise a meeting of interested villagers in our local pub.

I cannot believe that such community interest, development and initiative could ever again be possible if the professional librarian service is to be diluted by volunteers – no matter how well motivated they may be as individuals.

Perhaps not all groups are as active as ours (reading 12 books a year, and currently on our 90th book) and some may have fewer (or more) than our ten members. The smooth operation of our group relies heavily on the relationship we maintain with the enthusiastic and professional cooperation of the staff in Richmond and, of course, their colleagues at all the other libraries throughout the service; regularly sourcing the books we request from across the county and returning them to the holding libraries after our use. For this we pay the county £25 per annum.

Book groups represent a sizeable element of the county's reading public. The continuity, quality and reliability of these services, and the activity they support, will undoubtedly fail if left to the vagaries of volunteer availability.

IAN TUGWELL

Hunton, Bedale.