MERGING with surrounding areas could bring Lincolnshire's library services into the modern age, according to the county council.

A plan submitted by Lincolnshire County Council was selected by the coalition Government's Future Libraries Programme as a potential blueprint for how libraries could be run in the future.

The scheme involves sharing stock, staff and services and with four neighbouring areas giving users more choice in where they go and what they read.

Assistant director for culture and adult education at the county council Mark Homer said: "Our aim is to put the library service at the core of local government services.

"The project will focus on how the county can work with neighbouring authorities and communities to deliver shared library services that are suited to the 21st century.

"This will include access to other public services and the provision of information hubs and community spaces.

"This will be done over a large area, working across boundaries with Rutland, North East Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough."

Books stocked in libraries outside the control of the county council could be ordered by local users and people who found themselves out of the county with an overdue book could drop it off in one of the other authorities' branches.

Other schemes picked by the coalition Government included Bradford's idea to get big businesses to take over the lending service.

In Newcastle and Durham, libraries could be merged with banks and job centres.

Branch secretary of Lincolnshire's Unison, John Sharman, said: "If these plans to merge with other authorities are to prevent the privatisation of the libraries and keep them under public control then it is something we can support.

"In my experience, mergers of this nature do lead to job losses, but we would need to see the fine detail and specific plans before we could say anything for certain. The fine details are certainly very important."

The Museums Libraries and Archive Council chief executive Roy Clare said: "We are delighted there has been such a strong response from local government to this initiative."