CROYDON Council has scotched rumours that books are being cleared from the borough's libraries in order to prepare for closures.

Rumours have reached a crescendo in recent weeks after library users noticed books being sent away from libraries.

Fears for libraries' futures have risen since cost-saving plans to outsource them were announced last year.

But a council spokesman said last week the library service has simply changed the way it handles unneeded stock.

Instead of trying to sell unused and tatty books to library users, libraries sell their books to company Revival Books, which recycles or donates the books.

A council spokesman said: "We have refreshed our collections management procedures and librarians have been doing a lot of stock analysis as a consequence.

"This is a standard professional practice and involves removing old, out-of-date, tatty and unused stock.

"It is done systematically to criteria and guidelines.

"It has always and will always be done – it is an essential professional function of any lending library.

"We used to try and sell books ourselves, but most of it didn't sell and had to be disposed of.

"All old books are now collected and taken away free by Revival, who pay us for every copy."

The new approach generates money and means none of the books has to go to landfill, the spokesman said.

"There aren't going to be any closures," he added.

"There are clearly some people out there who are deliberately trying to raise concerns by getting library users needlessly worried about non-existent library closure plans."