THE Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals has said the “human face of libraries” could be in the firing line as Hampshire moves to automate the library service.

It warned about the “dangers of losing expert assistance and human interaction” amid job losses across the county.

But Hampshire County Council defended its position and said, despite voluntary redundancies in many sectors, self-service terminals are nothing new and are not used in lieu of human staff. Alton library has had them for more than a year.

The institute said it feared the budget-saving redundancies were paving the way to “replace library staff roles” via a one-off investment in self-service equipment.

As such, it called on councils to recognise that front-line library staff are “relied on by members of the community for a wide range of support and assistance that cannot be replaced by technology”.

Nick Poole, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, said he was “deeply concerned” about the library professionals that are to lose their jobs in Hampshire.

“A library isn’t a supermarket,” he added. “Library users need support and expertise in an accessible, safe and trusted environment, which is what qualified librarians are trained to provide.

“A kiosk can’t deliver a book club or lead a parent and baby group or help people gain access to the online services they need.

“They can’t welcome a school group, talk to you, offer you kindness, information or support. It is simply wrong to suggest that you can adequately replace a librarian with an automated system and still deliver a quality service.”

Andrew Gibson, the county council’s executive member for culture, recreation and countryside, said self-service terminals can work well in conjunction with human staff.

“Half of our libraries already have self-service facilities that enable customers to borrow, renew or return books,” he said.

“These are well-used by customers, giving library staff the opportunity to focus more on answering queries and helping people.

“We are about to consult with the public on a wide range of proposals to take the service forward to 2020, keeping pace with customers’ changing needs. This includes a proposal to implement self-service technology across all those libraries that do not already benefit from it.”

Mr Gibson added: “With more than 550 staff across our 48 libraries, Hampshire prides itself on its high levels of customer service and will continue to place its front-line staff at the heart of the library service.

“During the budget cuts of recent years, staff in various different roles across the council’s services have applied to be considered for voluntary redundancy. Not all staff were granted redundancy, and specifically within the library service.

“Out of the 74 library assistants requesting voluntary redundancy in March only 47 of these applications were accepted as the key criteria used was to ensure the service offered was appropriate to the needs of the community and, since a large number of library assistants work part-time, this equates to 28 full-time-equivalent front-line staff leaving the service.”