About 500 people protested in Sligo this afternoon outside the town's main library, which is one of three libraries in the county under threat of permanent closure.
The other two libraries at risk are in Tubbercurry and Ballymote.
The Sligo town library will close on Monday for three weeks in the latest in a series of rolling closures of the three libraries, but a decision by Sligo County Council on permanent closure is imminent.
At least one, and possibly two, libraries will be shut down.
Sligo County Council said it simply does not have enough people to keep the three centres open.
CEO Ciaran Hayes described the efforts of staff to keep the libraries open as "heroic" but he said it has now come to a stage where there is not enough staff to provide the service in all three locations.
Under a financial plan agreed with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Sligo County Council has to cut staff numbers by 42%.
At this stage, staff has been reduced by 37% - a reduction of 237 people, and the council said this has inevitable consequences for services including the libraries and outdoor staff.
"Sligo County Council has been given the impossible task of trying to cut its way back to economic prosperity and meet impossible requirements set out in a financial plan," said Fine Gael's Tony McLoughlin.
"Cuts to staff and the services they provide are having a devastating effect on the functioning of the council and its ability to conduct its statutory obligations and implementation of Government policy.
"While I do understand the need for every local authority to be able to balance its books, achieving the financial requirements set down in the financial plan is seriously strangling Co Sligo," added the Sligo/Leitrim TD.
