THE fight to save Watchet's library from closure could be stepped up next week as campaigners consider launching a new community organisation.

A dedicated library group was set up by Watchet Town Council following the announcement that the well used facility was one of six in the county earmarked for closure in September.

And it will meet on Monday to look at the possibility of setting up a Friends of Watchet Library and holding a second public meeting in the town.

At an initial public meeting in January, more than 100 people gave their overwhelming support to keep the library open.

Library group chairman Cllr Peter Murphy said the aim would be for the new organisation to work with the library.

Campaigners have already indicated they would be prepared to be involved in a countywide legal challenge to Somerset County Council's decision to press ahead with the closures as part of a £34 million round of cuts to services across the board.

The latest development in Watchet follows a meeting this week between campaigners - including Cllr Murphy -county councillors and senior council officers with national libraries campaigner Tim Coates.

Mr Coates, a former managing director of the book chain Waterstone's and WH Smith, is an advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture and has spent the last 12 years advocating improvements to the public library service.

He offered to brief county councillors in Somerset and first met with them at the end of January.

Mr Coates initially proposed three key recommendations for the county's library service:

l To reduce costs substantially on backroom service, rather than closing libraries.

l To ensure published figures were clear and complete.

l To improve the front-line with more new books - including allowing branch librarians to buy stock directly - introducing longer hours and smarter premises.

A spokesman for the Friends of Somerset Libraries said the meeting had been predominantly cordial and had looked in detail where Mr Coates had said savings could be made that would obviate the need for closures.

Some of these areas - IT costs, central purchasing, distribution of costs and other media and the costs of staff not providing direct customer services - are to be investigated in detail, compared with other authorities and reported back to the council's cabinet.

"There was universal agreement that library closures should be prevented if possible within the budgetary constraints but no consensus on what is feasible," said the spokesman.

"The Friends still believe that all Somerset's libraries could be kept open and improved within the budgetary constraints, but only if there is a profound culture shift that will be very difficult for those who believe that the way things are currently done is defensible."

The spokesman said the group had been grateful for the opportunity to broaden the dialogue.

"However, we have seen no tangible evidence that the agenda is solely about budget savings and not about service cuts or, indeed, about preserving the status quo when that approach is condemning multiple communities to a total loss of a key service."

Library usage in Watchet has gone by almost 50 per cent over the last five years and it is one of just four libraries in Somerset - including Porlock which is also threatened with closure from September - where usage has risen.