ANGRY protesters have gathered in Wool in a bid to sway county chiefs from axing their village library.

Wool is one of 20 rural libraries threatened with closure as Dorset County Council seeks to claw back £724,000 from its library service budget.

Tomorrow, the council’s cabinet will be presented with a number of ways to proceed on the library issue.

Top of the list is an option, backed by director of adult and community services Debbie Ward, which will result in loss of funding for 10 libraries including Wool, Corfe Castle, West Moors and Colehill.

If these plans go ahead, Wool’s residents would likely be served by a mobile library, which locals say falls woefully short of the service they deserve.

Friends of Wool Library chairman David Smith said: “It makes no economic sense to close Wool library as running costs are very low.

“The county pays a minimal rent and the parish council already meet some of the staff costs.”

The library, at the D’Urberville Centre, Colliers Lane, serves Wool and surrounding villages.

Protesters say it is a popular community hub which plays a vital role in rural Dorset, particularly for parents with young children.

“It makes no geographic sense to leave a whole swathe of rural county without a static library,” Mr Smith added.

“The alternatives of an overstretched mobile service or the inconvenience and costs of travel to a distant town library are neither equitable nor green.

“It makes no social sense to dissolve yet more of the glue which binds communities together and enables them to be self-supportive, less of a burden on the taxpayer.”

After the cabinet considers the options, a final decision will be made at full council on July 21.