LIBRARIES in Clitheroe, Bacup and Nelson are to introduce a weekly calm hour for users on the autistic spectrum.

During the special 60 minutes they will be even quieter than usual.

During this hour the noise in the libraries will be further reduced by measures including the muting of barcode scanners, scheduling no events or activities and the lights being dimmed.

The new scheme will be introduced between Monday April 1 to Sunday April 7 to mark Autism Awareness Week.

Cllr Peter Buckley, Lancashire County Council's cabinet member for cultural services, said: "A campaign run by the National Autistic Society has found that a lack of public understanding was leaving autistic people and their families socially isolated.

"We want to play our part in improving this situation."