Balloch Library's long wait for a public toilets facility is finally coming to an end.

An upgrade beginning this month will see the council spend £20,000 on new, fully-accessible facilities, in a building which currently has no public toilet.

In a separate improvement project there will also be a boost to the library's IT facilities, thanks to a £30,000 Scottish Government funding boost.

It will enable library users to access West College Scotland's online learning platform for the first time.

The number of public-access computers will be doubled to 12, and there will be a larger choice of IT courses.

Meanwhile additional renovation work to the inside of the library will be carried out at the same time, as part of the normal upgrade plans.

Work being carried out internally means the library will close for a week from Monday, August 22 to the following Monday, August 29.

Altogether the improvements will take six weeks to complete, but for the rest of that time the library will remain open, and its opening hours won't be affected.

Education convener Councillor Michelle McGinty said: “Our libraries receive hundreds of thousands of visits a year and online services are proving increasingly popular, with virtual visits reaching over 496,000 last year.

“As a council we are dedicated to improving the wellbeing of our communities and improving life chances for young people, and fantastic library facilities are key to achieving that. I am certain this upgrade will be welcomed by our residents.”

Councillor John Mooney, depute convener, said: “Free WiFi was installed at all eight of our libraries last year and has been well-used by our residents for communicating with family, completing online job applications and researching school and college work.

“It is fantastic that this success to date has generated further funding, and I am sure our residents will look forward to the new and improved Balloch Library being revealed.”