ANOTHER £475,000 needs to be slashed from Worcestershire's libraries, it has emerged.

Worcestershire County Council insists none of its 21 libraries will be forced to close but has kick-started a major new review of how to save cash.

Bosses hope to plug all of the gap by asking more third parties to rent space at different sites, like the JobCentre Plus or cafes, a move they are calling 'remodelling'.

We can also reveal how fresh talks will also take place with the University of Worcester about saving money at The Hive, the city's £60 million success story.

The fresh savings target, for the 2016/17 financial year, comes after more than £2 million was taken out of the service in previous years.

That included the controversial changes to the mobile library service, which had 38 per cent of its 420 stops deleted back in February and drop-offs reduced to once a month instead of every three weeks.

Despite criticism of it being an attack on pensioners, bosses say they have had little negative feedback with the new system, which is used by more than 1,200 people a year.

The new strategy is aimed at building on turning other libraries into wider-used community hubs, with third parties taking up space inside them.

It builds on previous moves in that direction which has seen Stourport's library share a building with a coroner's court, Bromsgrove share space with their district council, and the JobCentre Plus is coming to Redditch's facility.

Several other libraries such as Wythall, Broadway and Upton are also ran by community volunteers.

Neil Anderson, head of culture and community services at the council, said: "We're looking at further re-modelling and further deals with our property.

"We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions too on those options, it could be more facilities like JobCentre Plus, we've already seen an example of that in Malvern.

"It's still the ambition of the authority not to close any libraries, we've got a significant amount of money to save and we'll be taking it forward on that basis.

"It is a high profile project."

Speaking during a meeting of the county council's corporate and communities overview and scrutiny panel yesterday, he even revealed hairdressing salons were possible options.

Councillor Lucy Hodgson, the cabinet member for localism and communities, said: "We are saying to everyone, 'please think about putting your services in our libraries' - it's about maximising the use of these buildings."

Lib Dem group leader Councillor Liz Tucker asked her how the mobile library service had gone since February's cuts, and was told there had been very little negative comments.

Taking out 38 per cent of all its stops meant anyone within three miles of a stationary library no longer gets the mobile service.

Councillor Hodgson also said a national UK taskforce was looking at how the authority has managed to save well over £2 million in recent years without closing a single library down, in the hope other councils can learn from it.

* See how we revealed the changes to the at-home library service back in February HERE.