CAMPAIGNERS fighting for Dorset’s libraries have accused the county council of misleading the public in the consultation over the service’s future.

Dorset council is consulting on a proposal to withdraw funding from 20 of its 34 libraries from April next year to save £800,000 as the authority attempts to cut £55 million from its budget.

Campaign group Ad Lib has put forward an alternative plan that will see the savings spread across all 34 libraries in a bid to keep them all open and under council control.

The group claims the council has made its own proposal look like ‘an act of generosity’ in the wording of a questionnaire asking library users on their view on the two proposed alternatives, when the reality would be completely different.

Ad Lib spokesman Mike Chaney, who is chairman of the Friends of Puddletown Library, said: “Unless you look carefully you’d think that the council’s proposal that communities should take over their library buildings is an act of generosity.

“What the council doesn’t spell out is that by taking over libraries, people could find they’ve undertaken what could become a real burden – all for a measly bookclub, not a real library. The best thing is to vote for the Ad Lib proposal.”

Ad Lib is encouraging people to use the questionnaire to show their support for its proposed alternative.

Chairman Graham Lee said: “These questionnaires, which are in every library, show there are two ways of finding the money Dorset needs to save from its library costs.

“There is the county’s plan of closing 60 per cent of branch libraries – and there’s our proposal which would save slightly more money and keep our local libraries. We therefore urge everyone to vote for proposal two on the form.

“You don’t have to be a regular user of a library to take part. Everyone in Dorset pays for the council’s activities in one way of another.”

People can also answer online at dorsetforyou.com/libraryconsultation2011.