Library budgets row

The bestselling novelist Susan Hill yesterday accused senior managers of public libraries of abandoning their commitment to books and manoeuvring to turn library buildings into social centres.

"They have been actively trying for years to get rid of books and introduce almost anything else," she said.

Hill was reacting to an indication that the protection of library book-buying budgets will not be strengthened and may even be diluted in a new government review. The Museums, Libraries and Archives Authority, a government agency, has announced a review of minimum service standards set five years ago.

More from John Ezard in The Guardian.