A MONEY-saving scheme to staff Dorset's libraries with volunteers will fail without a £1.7 million investment in self-service technology, campaigners have claimed.

Dorset's library service is under pressure to find savings of £850,000 to protect the future of the county's book borrowing service.

A public consultation on core opening hours at the county's 34 libraries is under way.

Cabinet members agreed to cover training costs for voluntary staff during "non-core" hours as one solution to the funding crisis at a meeting on July 11.

But campaigners say a report to the same meeting failed to spell out the necessity of self-service technology to the use of voluntary staff.

A £1.7 million investment in self-service technology is described in the report as a council consideration for the "medium to long term".

But a recent letter from the council to communities considering the future of their libraries describes the technology as "critical" to the use of unpaid helpers.

Cllr Susan Jefferies said the emphasis on self-service systems had pushed voluntary services "up in value".

"It has been said that large savings could be enjoyed if volunteers helped out in the libraries. Now they say that to assist volunteers, we will need to install self-service tills," said Cllr Jefferies.

But Tracy Long, the council's library service manger, said the link between the use of volunteers and the need for self-service technology "runs throughout" the July report.

"The focus of volunteers can be to help people use the self-service technology," said Ms Long.

She added that the technology would help with opening hours and free staff for other duties.