It will take longer than the flick of a fairy godmother's wand; but in the next 12 weeks three of the drabber Cinderellas of the public library services, at Newquay in Cornwall, Gravesend in Kent and Richmond in London, will be transformed into 21st century showcases brimming with bestselling books and bright with new decor.

The remakes were announced yesterday by the libraries minister, David Lammy, as part of a Love Libraries campaign aimed at averting the "danger of permanently alienating the mainstream UK adult population".

The bill will total about £140,000.