Let’s get this clear: I’m appalled by the prospect of our libraries closing and support the campaigns to keep them open unequivocally. That said, I am against some of the extreme positions that I read in this paper, and that I heard at the recent public meeting at the Town Hall.

Like it or not, the Government has imposed cuts on county councils and Keith Mitchell is trying to do his job, however much we may dislike his way of implementing those cuts.

I am far from convinced that libraries have to close, but I am equally convinced that there will be some cuts and that the library budget as a whole may have to suffer.

I can’t see that marching on Whitehall and demonising Keith Mitchell is going to help. Those who are in a position to do so, with the county’s finances at their fingertips, should take up Mr Mitchell’s challenge and find ways of saving money without shutting any libraries or reducing essential ‘front-line’ services.

The rest of us need to work out what to do in the event of those cuts. We must look at ways to make the library service more viable within local communities for the long-term future – whether by recommending shorter opening hours, volunteers working alongside professionals, or charitable funding.

The library service also needs to show some initiative and publicise more effectively the services it can provide.

It needs, for example, to say more about its excellent online services that can be used when libraries are shut (ordering books and getting OUP’s online reference material free are two examples many library users seem to know little about).

Since the libraries are such wonderful community centres, maybe they can even generate some income by speaker events and suchlike.

Now is the time to be brainstorming these ideas – and probably some much better ones.

We need to make sure that libraries are not sold off, and by all means let those who understand the Public Libraries and Museum’s Act of 1964 launch a legal challenge against library closures so that we have some breathing space.

So, in summary: let’s box clever in as many intelligent ways as we can.

This will be much more effective than moaning on about Mr Mitchell’s salary and his BMW, or blocking up Whitehall with the prospect of allowing some violent hotheads to spoil our cause.

Don Manley, Hayward Road, Oxford