Library users could have long waits for new titles and reference books if a council goes ahead with a proposed £100,000 cut back.

Libraries are just one of a number of services facing a financial review as East Sussex County Council attempts to cut spending by £700,000 to balance its books.

Councillors will be meeting at the end of next month to decide where the spending axes should fall. Joy Preston, chairman of Lewes Library Friends, has called on councillors to think again about targeting libraries across the county, just because the service is a "soft option".

She says the library service is contributing 14 per cent to the proposed cuts, which represents two per cent of the council's total expenditure.

She says the education budget, which is 25 times greater, is scheduled to contribute £200,000.

She said: "If the cuts go ahead then the expenditure on £100,000 worth of library books will be deferred or cancelled, more than ten per cent of the total budget for books.

"Since the action is planned two thirds of the way through the year, the impact on the purchase for the last third will be proportionately greater and library users will soon notice the effect.

"Very few books will be purchased for the remaining months of the year and there will be long waiting lists for popular items and many significant titles will not be purchased at all."

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council said: "No single service has been specifically targeted for cuts.

"Departments have been asked to look at possible cuts prior to a budget meeting in February."

Jeremy Birch, the lead cabinet member for Education said: "Nothing has been decided and so I cannot comment."