THE signs outside still point to Highfield Library.

But inside the library has closed, and in its place is Bolton’s first neighbourhood collection, which opened yesterday.

On an aptly quiet opening morning, the first customers trickled into the Orchards, in Highfield Road — the library’s former base— to use the self-service point from which borrowers can access around 850 books.

T he co l l e c t i o n , housed on two bookshelves in the reception of the Children’s Centre, has been tailored to meet local needs, with l i b r a r y b o s s e s analysing computer records from Highfield Library, to replicate as best they can the kind of books wanted.

The smaller range — about 10 per cent of the 8,000 or so books in the old library — is made up of 400 fiction books, 225 non-fiction, and more than 200 children’s books.

Christine Collins, the neighbourhood collections co-ordinator responsible for setting up each of the five collections in Bolton, said there had been just a few users on the first morning.

She added that people were used to using the self service point because it had been in place since Highfield Library moved to the Orchards two years ago.

Mrs Collins said: “We have tried to put a mixture of everything here and we have made the most of the space available.

there is a children’s centre and a nursery and a school here so we have a large children’s section. Our borrowers also take out a lot of crime fiction so we have included a bigger percentage of crime.”

If borrowers cannot find what they are looking for, they will be signposted to Farnworth Library or can use one of the two free computers to order books from the library service’s wider stock.

People can use the computers for free for up to one hour and the collection point is open from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

The former library was open on Monday and Thursday from 9am to 7.30pm and on Saturdays from 9am to 12.30pm.

The other libraries set to close are Astley Bridge; Castle Hill; Heaton and Oxford Grove and neighbourhood collections will be brought in before April.

The closures are part of a £400,000 programme of cuts from the libraries budget.