The official opening of the refurbished Ross Library will take place on National Libraries Day on February 4th. Friends and supporters of the new Ross Library and Customer Service Centre are invited to join popular local authors Phil Rickman, Rebecca Tope, Caro Peacock, Quentin Letts and Jon and Heather Hurley for the celebrations.

Work from Herefordshire's Young Poet Laureates will be on display and Bookstart Bear will be at a special storytime for under 5s at 2pm. The celebrations kick off from 11.30am with the official opening at noon and all friends and supporters are welcome to view the new exhibition space and new library area, as well as a suite of customer service points.

As part of the celebration of libraries Herefordshire Council's library service is offering a voucher for a free rental of an audio book, a DVD or a game if you introduce a new member of your family or a friend to the library, and what's more they will get a voucher too.

There will also be special National Libraries Day postcards asking people to say what they love about their library.

Customers will also be encouraged to visit the different surgeries organised at the library including the Councillor's surgery – Saturday February 4th from 10am to 11am, Housing advice surgery – Wednesday February 8th from 9.30am and the Planning applications surgery on Thursday, February 9th from 2pm to 4pm.

Councillor Roger Phillips, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for enterprise and culture, said: "In Herefordshire, we are fully committed to keeping all of our libraries open and sustainable into the future which is why we have combined our library service customer services team.

"This reduces our running costs and means we can keep all of our permanent libraries open, unlike many other authorities who have been forced to close these vital community services.

"I am delighted we have such a wealth of popular writers coming along to the official opening and I hope as many residents as possible will come along to meet them as well," he added.

"We have also been able to use the old shelving at Ross library, which had to be removed because it would not fit the reconfigured space, to improve the facilities at both Bromyard library and the children's library at Hereford.

Councillor Price added: "As part of our strategy to provide better services for customers, this new centre will provide a one-stop shop for residents who want to take out library books or use the council's other services such as advice on housing and making planning applications.