Readers will have to wait up to a year to borrow new titles from Borehamwood Library thanks to bosses putting an end to all hardback adult fiction.

As part of a drive to save money, Hertfordshire County Council has decided that costs will be cut if the library in Elstree Way only offers softback adult fiction books to members.

But this means a wait of anything up to a year for anyone wanting to read newly published titles -- or the alternative of a hefty bill of £12 to £20 for a hardback in a book shop.

"This will be a real pain for people who like to read hardbacks and those who read newly published books straight away," said library member, Nicole Woods. "Some people probably don't realise that softbacks come out up to a year after hardbacks and that they will have to wait for them."

Library users were also worried that softbacks would become tatty very quickly, would not last as long and therefore need to be replaced more frequently than hardbacks. The idea of cutting costs in this way was seen by many as a false economy.

But the county council's quality and performance manager, Marianne Cusworth, says something somewhere had to go in order to save money and that putting an end to hardback adult fiction was the right decision to make.

She said: "The library service had to make a reduction of £1.52million this year.

"We could have cut costs in other areas like decreasing the days the libraries are open, but we thought this would affect people the least.

"Of course it means that there will be a delay for people wanting to loan new books. But these days softbacks can come out very soon after the hardbacks as publishers don't always wait that long anymore."

She added that the cut -- which is affecting all libraries in the county -- would only be for a year and then a review would decide whether or not to bring back hardback adult fiction. Library users were also assured that children's books and large-print books, which are all often hardback, had been safeguarded.

Borehamwood Library manager, Inma Jones, was sympathetic with readers, but admitted her hands were tied.

She said: "It is regrettable to make cuts anywhere but with so much money to be saved it seems something like this was inevitable. There will be a lot of disappointed people as many of our members prefer the traditional format of hardback books. The print is often larger and of course they can read them as soon as they are published whereas now they will have to wait.

"Not everyone will agree with the choice that has been made but I do think however that they (the county council) have made the right one. No decisions of where to cut costs are ever easy as something will always suffer."

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