“When we think of self service we mean self service. No staff are needed . You would register, and be given a fob to let yourself in and out of the library. You take a book off the shelf and browse. or take it home to read,

When finished, you take the book back. In the library to place the book on the right shelf, in accordance with its number. It is not rocket science and we have never needed highly paid council staff to put books on shelves for £18,000 a year.

Good grief, do we really need this sort of nurse-maid treatment to continue? Libraries have had their day, long live the cheap and efficient home computer. Hooray"”

“Sorry Girls, all the books ina library are only worth a couple of thousand pounds. You only need one member of staff to open the doors and answer the odd question. You say these neighbourhood projects and Surestart for children are in libraries. Where?”

“Eric the Read - most libraries already have self-service machines and under council plans the rest soon will have.

Feckless Eddie - a lot of Sure Start children's centres are located in libraries. I wonder how the rest would cope with dozens of children wanting to take half a dozen story books home with them, and coming in a week later to do the same again. Yes, children do get through that many books - I know mine did - and not many families can afford that many books. Good quality picture books aren't exactly cheap. It's well known that reading stories to children gives them a good start in life, develops concentration and imagination, and helps them when they come to learn to read themselves. These advantages shouldn't be limited to well-off families.

The Internet is great for finding factual information. That's why libraries have lots of computers, so people who can't afford them aren't deprived of the advantages of the internet. And library staff do help people to use them.

But if you want to study a subject, whether for formal or informal education purposes, there's no substitute for a well written, well researched book written by an expert. And that can cost upwards of £20 or £30 each. Fine if you have an unlimited account with Amazon, but not for the rest of us.

Education doesn't begin or end at school. Libraries are part of the education system and are open to everyone, whether you choose to use them or not. Plenty of people from all walks of life do.”

“At my Library it is pretty much self service already and it is encouraged that these machines are used rather than go the desk. You dont need to stamp books, a little receipt pops out telling you the return date. Further, a computer is also available to book time slots for the PC's as well as reserving books and having 10 min access to the internet. However someone has to be employed to put the books back on the shelf and to answer questions as and when required.”

“@Kay Powell, Robinwood;

Pease think about what you said. Of course, you can run a library with next to no staff !

Let's take one example from recent times. Fifty years ago retailers laughed at self-service shops, with few staff. They became supermarkets and short-sighted retailers becamse history.

So, please tell me why our libraries are not 'self-service'? The 'losses' would be more than covered with staff reductions.

There are simple systems in existence that would enable libraries to change to self-service in a few months.

Staff do not teach PC users how to use the librarys' thousands of computers, because they all know. People would take 10 seconds to learn how to pass a book under a machine to date-stamp it.

Do you think B&Q and other commercial operations are standing still? You now lug your DIY stuff to an automatic checkout and there is little problem. Soon, there will be a grand total of one member of B&Q staff running every auto checkout.

Come on Kay, why should council staff not go the same way?”