British Council is closing their English language library services in November 2009, their official site announces.

Most of the library stock will be donated to a host library in order to allow continued access to it on the part of Bulgarian readers. British Council will provide further information about this arrangement at the end of October this year.

British Council informs they will continue to offer English language classes and will provide extra support for students through a new dedicated self-access center. The center will offer customers and parents a range of resources to help with the learning of English.

The news is announced in the official statement of Tony Buckby, Director of British Council Bulgaria, published on the website.

"British Council has maintained a library collection in Sofia since 1991, which is when we first started our operation in Bulgaria. During the 1990s this collection was a valuable resource for audiences who have long identified the United Kingdom as a source of knowledge and ideas.

Our decision to close the library is also based on a need to reallocate resources and ensure as much as possible is spent on project activity and new ways of working in line with the British Council's changing role across Europe. In recent years we have moved away from being a traditional "bilateral cultural institute" to building more flexible and dynamic cultural relations. We have launched a new portfolio of work focusing on project work on a larger regional and global scale and introducing new programmes to support the development of strong relations and links between Bulgaria, other European countries and the UK.

We will continue our work with Bulgarian partners, including ministries, educational and cultural institutions, teachers, arts agents, the media, NGOs as well as international agencies and institutions and will expand our networks to achieve mutual sharing of ideas and practices. Our areas of work will focus above all on young audiences in Bulgaria and offer programmes for strengthening intercultural dialogue, promoting tolerance to differences, developing skills for economic competitiveness and innovation," Buckby points out