Aberystwyth library will have reduced opening hours with Aberaeron’s new facility at Penmorfa opening with an increase in hours if changes to library services in Ceredigion are pushed through.

At the 15 July meeting of Ceredigion County Council’s Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee, members were asked to scrutinise changes to library opening hours in the county, recommending the changes be approved at a later Cabinet meeting.

The contentious move of Aberaeron’s town library from the town centre to the Ceredigion council offices at Penmorfa was approved despite more than 900 people opposing the move in a public consultation.

A report for members said: “As part of budget savings introduced in 2024 difficult decisions were agreed requiring savings to be found in Library Services from a reduction of posts, vehicles, relocation of services and a review of library opening hours.

“The reduced staff have managed to maintain opening hours whilst a review was undertaken and decisions on relocation for Aberaeron were finalised.

“The new Aberaeron Library is on track for opening in September and will require different staff hours to maintain as we will combine building reception duties.”

It said a review of library hours had been completed, but the exact outcome for rotas will require staff consultation.

It added: “There are increased hours for Aberaeron as it moves to Penmorfa and will take on additional duties providing reception coverage and delivering wider corporate efficiencies as well as improved service to citizens.

Changes proposed include an increase of six hours at Aberaeron’s new Penmorfa library, a reduction of four in Aberystwyth, a 1.5-hour reduction in Cardigan, and a one-hour reduction in Lampeter.

In Aberystwyth, opening hours will be changed to 9am to 5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays from the current 9am to 6pm, with Friday and Staurday openings changing to 9am to 4.30pm and 10am to 4pm from 9am to 5pm and 9.30am to 5pm respectively.

Cardigan library would open one hour late at 10am on Monday, but otherwise remain the same, with Lampeter seeing slight changes to daily opening times across all days.

At the meeting, members heard the changes were aimed at reducing complexity in the service and there was not expected to be any major impact on staff in the form of job losses.

Speaking at the meeting, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Customer Services Cllr Catrin M S Davies said that, while Aberystwyth was losing four hours, it would be still open for the most hours of the four libraries, at 46.5 hours.

She told members that, while some may find the changes difficult, “on the whole the users of the libraries are people who are flexible, who are going to be willing to go with us on this; we are keeping all the libraries open.”

She added: “Libraries are closing all over the country; what we have tried to do is keep our libraries open.”

Committee members agreed to support the changes, with the final decision being made by Cabinet.