Councillors have approved plans to hand Fife museums, libraries and theatres to a trust.
It is thought the move will see Fife Council save £639,000 in the first year of Fife Cultural Trust, with year-on-year savings to follow.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the council’s housing and communities committee, assurances were given that the move is not just a cash-saving exercise but will secure the future of the region’s cultural services.
Dorothy Browse, service manager for libraries, arts and museums, said the public will not notice differences, apart from possible improvements.
She said: ”It was good to hear councillors talking about cultural services, which can make a difference to people’s lives.
”In the case of libraries and museums, there is a sense of pride in the community, and libraries can contribute to people’s education.
”People remember their local library and how much benefit they got from it when they were growing up. We would certainly want that to continue and build on it.
”I think that when the new trust is established it will take a great interest in creating an organisation that has a balanced view of the various services that it offers.”
The trust will be responsible for the council’s libraries, arts, museums and archives. It will also manage and operate theatre services provided by ON at Fife and the Byre Theatre, St Andrews.
Buildings remain under council ownership and are leased to the trust. Artifacts and artworks in museum collections, non-renewable library stock and archives will also be owned by the council.