Whitehaven's library building is to close and the service moved into the nearby archive centre.

The county council has revealed its plans which will see the archive centre shut its doors for a year while refurbishment and building works are carried out ready for the transfer.

Once the library has moved into its new home, the Lowther Street building will be sold-off to help fund the revamp of the archive centre with any remaining cash being pumped back into the service.

As well as the library being rehomed in the archive centre on Scotch Street there will be other services available at the same site including registrars and community learning.

The archive centre will also benefit from new and increased strong room accommodation, said the council.

Councillor Deborah Earl, the council's cabinet member for communities, said: "I am delighted that investment is being made in to archive centres.

"Like our libraries, they are important community hubs providing access to a wide variety of information that helps us to understand our past and preserve it for future generations.

"The council is committed to supporting archive centres and there will be further investment at all archive sites to ensure a sustainable archive service at a challenging time for local government finances."

Staff at the archive centre will concentrate on essential collections work, including backlog listing, cleaning and preservation, transfer and recording the location of collections, and preparing collections for digitisation.

A council spokesman added: "The investment in storage facilities and a greater focus on collections management goes hand-in-hand with a significant increase in digitisation to improve remote access, facilitate research and the protection of irreplaceable original documents and records."

The archive centre is expected to close towards the end of the year.