Detailed plans of how the merger of the city's lending and reference libraries will look have been revealed.

The city council is due to move the main central lending library from Belvoir Street into a building currently used by the nearby Bishop Street reference library.

The move, which will be complete by next spring, will cost £500,000 but save the council a total of £228,000 as part of £19 million budget cuts over the next three years. It will see the equivalent of 14 full-time posts axed.

Some users fear the quality and selection of books available will deteriorate when the two collections are moved into the same building.

Library bosses say the change will see a revamped building and better services and the majority of books will still be available.

However, spare books will be moved to other libraries or placed into storage and some older books will be disposed of.

Adrian Wills, the council's library boss, said: "Library users will notice the difference from the moment they step into the building.

"We're tearing up the cheap laminate flooring that greets people on their entrance to the library, which will uncover a detailed mosaic floor which has been forgotten underneath.

"The doors which lie straight in front of the entrance have been closed for years because of a large staff room area behind them. It means people currently have to take a right turn when they enter. It doesn't make any sense.

"Instead, we're moving the staff area into the basement and throwing those doors open to the public.

"This is where the main collection of fiction will be located, with a beautiful painted skylight located overhead."

The non-fiction section – currently split over two floors at the lending and reference libraries – will be centralised upstairs alongside the CDs and DVDs and children.There will also be computers for people to surf the net.

Library user Moira Bellamy, 66, from New Parks, Leicester said: "I just want a good selection of quality books and I worry whether we'll still get that."

City resident Eric Bunting, 80, said: "There isn't enough space here to fit the entire contents of the lending library in. Book choice will suffer."

But Mr Wills said: "We're continuing with our current level of investment in new books each year.

"But we'll be placing some older and less popular items from the lending library's collection into storage underneath the new library building. The items will still be available on request.

"Any books which won't fit into storage will be distributed among our community libraries.

"The focus for this library will be on books, that's first and foremost. But we have to recognise that times are changing and it is the popularity of the internet that is bringing a lot of our users here."

A trial of electronic books will also take place, with library users able to download books on to their iPads and Kindles for free.

Part-time student Dan Whitfield, 22, who lives in Leicester city centre, said: "The internet is the future and so are e-books.

"It's up to a library to move with the times and reflect what people want."