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Britain's libraries are making the public pay for services previously provided for FREE before the Tory-led Coalition’s cuts, a shock survey reveals today.

And the new charges are hitting jobseekers, children and the elderly hardest as they had relied on free access to the internet and computer services at their local library.

In prime minister David Cameron’s Witney constituency and the rest of Oxfordshire, disabled people who could borrow DVDs and CDs for free now have to pay charges from £1.25 to £4.50.

Many libraries are providing the first half-hour of internet access free and then charging a range of fees to stay online.

And librarians say the move is poorly timed - just as the Government is putting more of its services online, such as applying for benefits and fill in job applications.

One librarian said:”A significant part of the population cannot afford to buy a computer or pay for broadband to access the internet.

“Consequently, the only opportunity this portion of the population has to access the internet is via library services, causing social exclusion.”

A survey of 2,000 library staff by Britain’s biggest public sector union Unison for its annual conference in Liverpool this week, uncovered a sorry picture of rising charges, shrinking opening hours and job losses in those libraries managing to escape being shutdown.

Many reported a steep rise in fines, charges for computer services and Internet access as well as children’s and schools-related services and author visits - the very services that attract new users to libraries.

And the survey that more than 40% of staff say their library now has an ‘income generation target’, prompting the same percentage (40%) to say that their library is now run more like a business than a public service.

One third report that libraries have reduced their opening hours, and a third have introduced charges for services previously provided for free.

A total of 79% of staff say they are working harder to try to maintain the same level of service, while 57% say it is impossible to maintain the same level of service as existed before the coalition’s drastic cuts. 60% have seen full time job losses, and more than half (54%) have seen a reduction in part time posts.

More than half (55%) report that their library relies on volunteers, which 73% say has grown since 2010, revealing the steady de-professionalisation of the service under the Tory-led coalition.

Heather Wakefield, Unison’s head of local government, said:“The government says that it values local libraries, but this is pure fiction - the facts speak for themselves.

“Hundreds of libraries have been closed, and those that remain are cutting their opening hours, their staffing levels, and some of the services they provide.

"Volunteers cannot be relied on to replace trained skilled library staff – the library service is being run into the ground.

“For more than 100 years libraries have been at the heart of our communities.

"They’ve inspired people to learn, helped parents on low incomes get their children interested in books, made it possible for people without a home computer to apply for work, and reached out to give elderly people a sense of community.

“But all this is now at risk. Libraries are being turned into businesses and Unison is calling for urgent action to protect them as a vital public service for communities now and in the future.”

Earlier this year (04.04.13) the Mirror revealed two libraries are closing every week under the cuts in the last two years.

A total of 439 libraries have closed since the Tory-led Coalition came to power in 2010, with another 280 - 245 buildings and 35 mobiles - now under threat.

Nearly 4000 full time jobs have been lost.