Sweeping cuts to libraries in Burton and Uttoxeter - including reductions in staff hours and readers serving themselves - could see books and equipment damaged, it is feared.

It was reported earlier this month that huge £1.3 million budget cuts could see Burton and Uttoxeter libraries become out-of-hours self-service facilities by 2021.

Subject to approval from the cabinet at Staffordshire County Council, which manages the libraries, a 12-week public consultation on the proposals will be launched in January.

But county councillor Maureen Compton, speaking at a meeting of a select committee, expressed reservations.

She said: "It's obviously a concern that visits to libraries have decreased by 3.8 per cent and issues have decreased by 11.5 per cent. My other concern is with regards to self-service.

"Users being able to access libraries with no staff and without security, with only CCTV, could lead to library resources being damaged. I’m also concerned about computers in the library."

Councillors were told self-service systems were already used in areas including Milton Keynes, Brighton and Hove and Leicestershire and no issues relating to loss or damage of stock had been reported.

The planned cuts follow savings of £1.675 million already made from the council's budget in the last few years.

These saw professional librarians replaced by volunteers at 23 of the county's 43 libraries. Another option on the table to achieve the latest raft of cuts would be to make more facilities volunteer-run.

Councillor Compton said: "I commend the library service and the number of volunteers you have – I think that is tremendous – and I commend you on the summer reading scheme."

Tean councillor Keith Flunder told the meeting: "In Tean we have a local history room that could be turned into a library, maybe for one or two hours a week, where a volunteer could take some books, so people knew they could at least link up with something."

Burton 's and Uttoxeter 's facilities are currently still staffed by professional librarians.

The self-service plans would mean longer opening hours - but fewer hours during which staff would man the libraries.

Users would access the CCTV-monitored buildings with swipe cards. Any problems or queries would be dealt with by a phone-operated help desk.

A council spokesman said: "Under the out-of-hours idea, libraries would still be staffed for a core period during the day - for example, from 10am to 5pm - but registered users could also access the building during certain periods outside those hours - for instance, from 8am to 10am and from 5pm to 8pm.

"No library would be completely self-service and the option doesn’t apply to community-managed libraries."

The current opening hours for Uttoxeter Library, in High Street, are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 4pm on Saturdays.

Burton Library, in Riverside, off High Street, opens from 9am to 6pm on Mondays, 9am to 5pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9am to 7pm on Thursdays and 8.30am to 4.30pm on Saturdays.

Gill Heath, the council's cabinet member for communities, said: "Staffordshire's library service is very important to us all, but the way people are using it is changing all the time and we must change with it to provide as flexible a service as possible that meets the needs of Staffordshire residents."

"Self-service is already up and running in other areas. We can look at what works well and how we might adapt that for use in Staffordshire to extend opening times and choice."

During 2016/17, Staffordshire libraries, including the mobile and travelling service and seven prison libraries, issued 1.4m items to 25,000 members.

However, borrowing fell by 15.8 per cent on the previous year, while visits to mobile libraries reduced by half.

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