It was deeply ironic that a letter concerning problems with the library’s internet services appeared in the same edition of the Wiltshire Times as my letter about cuts in the number of reference books in Trowbridge library.

The excuse given by the Wiltshire Library Service for slashing the number of books in what was once the largest reference library in the county is because online services will replace reference books.

But if the computers in the library don’t work...

True, many people can access these resources at home, but a sizeable number of Wiltshire residents don’t have computers or internet access.

Effectively they are being excluded from reference resources.

Strangely the view that online services will replace reference books does not appear to be shared by libraries in surrounding authorities who see such online resources as a way of supplementing and improving their reference services and existing reference book stock.

Schools are already faced with the major problem of pupils employing cut and paste from online websites to produce homework, without hardly reading, let alone understanding, the material.

Although online resources are good for initially identifying sources, to understand issues in any real depth books are still required.

This is why libraries in other authorities are maintaining their reference book stocks.

Strangely Salisbury library still has a reference library of 20,000 volumes, despite having equal access to Wiltshire's online resources. Once again inequality of library provision within the county.

Andrew Milroy, Bellefield Crescent, Trowbridge<.p>