List of Staffless Libraries in the United Kingdom and beyond

Swipe, type and enter. Image from Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly.

“Staffless libraries” are those that are open sometimes with no staff at all on site. Entry to the library is via a library card and Pin, with CCTV aiding security and self-service machines/computers allow usage without staff.

They are widespread in Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark, with far fewer elsewhere such as Australia, Canada , Germany, Singapore and the USA. In the Republic of Ireland, after a few pilots (inc Tubercurry in Sligo, Tullamore and Banaher in County Offa and the Lexicon in Dublin, September 2016), the decision was made to make 200 of the 330 libraries staffless in June 2018. The trials resulted in increased visitor numbers of between 75 and 185 per cent over a 12-month period in 2016.”.  Gjern in Denmark is regarded as the first “true” staffless library. opened in 2004. Numbers in the UK are hard to quantify but the list below suggests that there are at least 173, probably considerably more.

You need a library card and know your PIN. Registration is additional and some automatically include a “how to deal with tailgaters” intro in the brief intro to how to gain entry.

Pros

• Longer opening hours.
• Avoid the need for staffing therefore far cheaper per hour open, therefore the technology can extend opening hours far beyond what budgets would normally provide.
• User preference: users like having the library open for longer (or, in some cases, open at all).
• Gain new users who otherwise would not have been able to use the library with older, more limited, hours.
• Improves ommunity feel and social capital: creates trust and meeting place.
• Impersonal (some people prefer this)
• Hours can be set to suit the library, as can other restrictions.  CCTV and remotely controlled equipment means security is provided.
• A good news story if the introduction of the technology is twinned with cuts to libraries elsewhere.
• Regular users out of hours may police the library themselves and assist those who need help.
• Vandalism is often feared but appears rare, according to Danish/Scandinavian study and the lack of reports of such incidents in the UK.

“The council believes that the model that has been implemented offers people an enhanced service, without the council having to close any of the libraries. At a time when many other councils are having to close libraries, we are delighted that we have managed to develop a service that meets the needs of our residents whilst making the saving that we have to in order to continue meeting the needs of the whole city.” Peterborough Libraries (Vivacity)

• Absence of personal touch, although remote conversations can be had.
• Equalities issues: pilots in some authorities show far more men than women are willing to enter an apparently unsupervised library (ratio of 90% male to 10% female mentioned in one workshop attended by the author). However, news from other authorities does not seem to support this, with information from Denmark suggesting women are as likely to use as men.
• Sense of “big brother is watching you” with CCTV. There is no CCTV in Swedish staffless libraries.
• Question of access for those unaccompanied under 16 needs addressing in each authority. Barnet have decided 15 is the correct age.
• Cost: the system is cheaper than paid staffing but cost (especially set up) is still substantial.

“Open+ does not deny access to under 16’s. The parameters and rules of open+ are completely flexible and decided locally by the library. The objective of open+ is for each authority or individual library to decide on their ideal opening hours (and the budgets can decide on how many of those hours can be staffed). Every individual in the community can then have access to their library, to borrow a book or use a PC when they want. If the library can increase supply then demand will increase from all demographics and user types. Under 16’s, like everybody else, are free to use the new extended hours of library access 7 days a week. However, it is not uncommon for libraries to elect not to allow children in the library at night by themselves but this is a local decision not a restriction by default of open+ ” Daren Ratcliffe, UK Managing Director, Bibliotheca [via email]

• Cannot be used by those without library cards already
• Not suitable for some with certain special needs. “Physical access will be difficult for anyone with such needs, and once in the library, without staff present, many learning disabled residents, perhaps with autism, or similar difficulties, will struggle to use the facilities provided …” (Broken Barnet, March 2016).
• Danger that regular library users during outside open hours will take ownership of the library, policing who is allowed in themselves. Would such users be checked by the authority to ensure they do not take advantage of other users during unstaffed times.

“I worry about someone having a fall or somebody causing damage. A response to this wouldn’t be quick enough with the use of CCTV.” Calne

• “Thin end of the wedge”: system is introduced to extend opening hours but, with cuts, may increasingly replace core hours, being used as an excuse or placebo for reducing opening hours. Research shows that, in Denmark, users would be unhappy to use the system if it directly replaced staffing. In addition, Danish research suggests and entirely staffless library is not successful.
• Dependent on IT.  If there is a problem with the library servers or other computer-related issue, including servers or data, then the system does not work and the library has to close.

“TEO [Open+] requires names and PIN numbers to be able to operate. Verification between the door entry panel and the library management system is not available as the latter has failed. Entry into the building using TEO is therefore not currently possible. Names have been recovered but PIN information is irrecoverable. PINs will need to be reissued. A step by step process to re-establishing the service, based on the time required to communicate to all registered users of the TEO service, has been created. Registered TEO users will be notified of the new PIN by the 1st April, ready for the target date for re-opening of the TEO hours of the 1st April.” Appendix L: Issues arising from the Failure of the library management system – Barnet Council, 23rd March, 2016.”

•  Risk assessment needed to identify all eventualities so service can still show duty of care.

Barnet – ‘They may as well stock it with weapons and tell people where to hit the bullseye’ – anger over unstaffed libraries – Time Series. Campaigners pretend to wreak havoc in Open+ library, including two collapsing and one smoking. No response from CCTV. “People say they don’t want to go there at night because it is creepy when nobody works there. “Smoke alarms might not even pick up smoking.” [February 2016]

Further reading

• Open Access Libraries – Libraries Connected. “Many services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland offer a mixed model of service delivery including a variety of ways in which access to library services, eg extending access through partnerships, volunteers, and the use of technology. This guidance notice focuses on some of the key considerations for library services exploring the use of technology to extend access for residents and communities to their local library.” (2024)
• Republic of Ireland – Further breaches of safety in staffless libraries – Staff Our Libraries. “There have been 29 tailgating incidents and 24 incidents of an Open Library member giving their card to another person. Most staggering of all though are the 158 incidents of open library members opening the security doors to allow access to another person. Most worrying of all the suspensions are those due to leaving a child without supervision in an unmonitored unstaffed library. In 2015 there were 4 incidents of a minor being left unsupervised during unstaffed hours, in 2016, 3 and another one last year. One incident should have been enough to prompt a review of the system and its safety.” (May 2018)
• Open + Libraries: Sharing the Library Key – Medium / Jane Cowell. Notes use to extend opening hours in Arhus and Cologne and looks at what is needed to be successful.
• Review of the open library concept in UK public libraries – Apse Solutions. “The objective of the report is an independent review on the option of using the “open” concept to work alongside and in partnership with available staffed hours to maintain and increase community access to the library service”.  Funded by Bibliotheca, the report looks at the experience of “open libraries” so far in the UK, with an emphasis on advantages and how to implement. (December 2016).
• Denmark – Open libraries: Self service libraries – The Danish way – Jan Holmquist (April 2016).
• Denmark – More open libraries: A Danish perspective – Princh. a lot of preparation and conversations. “we just used signs so people have some self-explanatory indications on where to find different key points at the library. We also marked everything just in case something is stolen so we could then trace it afterwards” … “Nothing has changed in the staff’s activities when it comes to the unmanned open library because there is no additional activity. ” … “Our open library opens at 8:00, but the library opens at 10:00. So, usually from 8:00-10:00, the staff work to get the library ready for the public.” [This whole article sounds like a different world – staff start at 8am but the library doesn’t open to 10! – Ed.] “we discovered that there are people who prefer the libraries when there is no staff present”
• Norway – Who are they and what do they do? – IFLA. “The method used was observation. A number of library visitors were observed during their library visit a week in November 2015.The libraries have done the same survey in 2007, and this new survey gave interesting results compared to the first survey. The main libraries, some branch libraries, and two branches, also open in unstaffed hours, were included.” …  Looks at differences in use in staffed and unstaffed hours. More men visit than women unstaffed (opposite is case when staffed).
• How technology can save council libraries – Public Technology.net (February 2016)
• Article in PanLibus (December 2015).
• The Libraries Taskforce has reproduced a review by Vivacity of the project in Peterborough here.  (December 2015)
• See also this case study – Open+ Case Study: Cullompton, Devon – was written especially for Public Libraries News in January 2016 and looks at the first couple of months of operation extending opening hours.
• Open libraries in Denmark – Scandinavian Library Quarterly, 2013.
• Open Plus/Staff less Libraries – Danish Union response – Barnet Unison. “self-serviced or unstaffed libraries are only to be seen as an enhancement of the opening hours, not as a replacement for the important tasks that librarians, information professionals and other library workers perform every day”
• Open+ UK launch of 24/7 library access from Bibliotheca. – Changing Libraries (April 2014).
• Opinion: Staffless libraries are a terrible idea for Ireland – Journal. “In addition, the UK’s experience of staffless libraries is not referenced at all in the report. Why not? Rather, the report repeatedly references the Scandinavian countries (where, in fact, the choice for the public was one of no library at all or a staffless library). Staffless libraries in the UK have not been successful from the public’s point of view and have led to closures, reduced staffed hours and thus the intrinsic loss of a valuable community asset. The real question is, does the government in the UK regard this as a successful cost-saving exercise?”
  

  No hands required?

• Staff-Less Libraries: Innovative staffing design – Carl Gustav Johannsen (2017).
• USA / Global – Checking Out Securely: The Challenge of Staffless Libraries – Public Libraries Online. “Automated checkout has its place. Computer databases and artificial intelligence make research even faster. Still, no automated system can offer a friendly smile, a helping hand, and an eye to security that provides an immediate response to problems as they occur.” (April 2017)
• How to get more users to the library? – Interview with Peterborough Libraries from the UK – Princh (May 2017).

List of known Open+ Libraries in the UK

The following is a doubtless incomplete list of authorities and branches which are using or plan to use this system. The UK managing director of Bibliotheca has emailed me to say 20% of all UK library services have installed, or are about to install, at least one service point (December 2016).

Barnet

• Edgware – Pilot – Freedom of Information request into its use. £159k cost of installation. For a negative take on this, see this Unison article.
• “11,000” sign up (October 2017) for usage at Church End and Colindale.

“The health and safety risks of this shift to ‘open libraries’ are self-evident: CCTV will be unmonitored, toilets will be closed, many vulnerable users will feel unsafe, while children under 16 years of age will not even be allowed to use these ‘libraries’ unaccompanied by an adult (age 18 or older). The Council claims it is using a ‘pilot’ at Edgware library to test its plans. However the pilot is not a fair test because, unlike in the proposed plan, a security guard is present during unstaffed hours, which are, in fact, only in addition to current opening hours.” Broken Barnet, January 2016

Bedford

• LibraryPlus added to Kempston and Putnoe Libraries. (March 2022)
• Consultation to extend use (March 2021).
• Consultation included Open+ for libraries outside of hours, as part of cuts package (October 2016).
• Due to strength of public concern, Open+ only to be installed at Central (where security guards are present) and not in branch libraries (October 2016).
• Open+ introduced at Bedford Central, Bromham and Wooton. Kempston and Putnoe “decided against”. (August 2017)

Bracknell

• 7 out of 9 libraries to have open technology installed, (June 2017).
• All nine libraries to be Open+, Binfield Library first. (September 2018)

Brighton and Hove

“The three month pilot at Woodingdean and Portslade saw 288 library users make 318 separate visits with council officers reporting a steady increase month on month. “

• Woodingdean, Coldean, Rottingdean and three others have Open as per report April 2017.
• Open technology will not be suitable for Hove on Sundays as it has too many rooms. (April 2017)
• Holingbury Library reopens in community centre: staffed one morning but open seven days per week (self-service machine, otherwise card access). (November 2017)

Pilot deemed successful in August 2016 meaning “Libraries Extra” extended to all 14 libraries.

Bristol

• St George
• Stockwood
• Westbury

“For veteran libraries campaigner Julie Boston, inset, of Love Bristol Libraries, this “innovation” has set alarm bells ringing. “I think it’s a horrendous idea, and the beginning of the end for librarians,” she said. “We need to protect our librarians – they serve an important purpose; they are what make libraries so accessible.” Bristol Post, January 2016.

Cambridgeshire

Piloting the system at St. Ives (May 2016) with public feedback/consultation before considering rolling out to others.

Camden

Five libraries converted from August 2016. These libraries only available via swiping card before noon.

• Kilburn Library Centre
• Kentish Town
• Camden Town
• Queens Crescent
• West Hampstead

Carmarthenshire

Newcastle Emlyn (March 2022)

Croydon

Staffless library technology piloted at Selsdon (December 2018)

Derby

Considering introducing system to cut costs. “This is not a total replacement for library staff. Any library adopting Open+ would still have staff on duty for a few hours each week but up to 60% could be totally unstaffed.” (November 2015)

Devon

Cullompton – no reduction in staffing, used to increase opening hours “From Monday 16th November 2015 opening hours will be extended at The Hayridge using the Open+ system. Open+ enables access to the building and facilities during unstaffed hours using your library card and PIN. If you would like to use the library or meeting rooms out of hours, please see a member of staff or email”

Edinburgh

Consultation includes questions on volunteers/community groups doing more in libraries / more colocation / Open+.  (October 2016)

£350k allocated to Open+. IT problems. (August 2017)

Gloucestershire

Bishops Cleeve Library – open only for Open+ for majority of week (March 2017)

Hampshire

“In some Tier 3 libraries that are single staffed, the council is looking to pilot an ‘open library’ approach whereby the library would be unstaffed some of the time but remain open to allow customers to issue or return books using the self-service systems” (November 2015)

Haringey 

• Staff to be replaced with staffless technology in order to cut costs (March 2024)

Harrow

• Consultation showed ” 57.31% supported or were willing to consider the introduction of Open+ technology to extend opening hours. “

Hertfordshire

• Croxley Green is piloting Open+ (May 2017)
• Berkhamsted new library will also be piloting Open+ (May 2017)

Lambeth

• Considering system.
• Open+ installed in Minet Library (September 2017)

Leeds

• Farsley Library.  See comments below for source and information.

Leicester

• “Library Plus has just launched at Knighton and Evington libraries. It means people will be able to access both libraries before and after standard staffed opening hours, from Monday to Friday.” (May 2022)

Leicestershire

• Syston Library in staffless pilot. (November 2016)
• £230k cut – Staff may be replaced by open technology for some hours in 15 libraries. Part of larger £1.3m cut by 2020/21., 14 libraries confirmed to have staffless technology installed.  (2018 May).

“To begin with, the self-access technology will be operational outside of staffed hours, but due to the demands on the council’s budgets we will be looking at reducing staffed hours in libraries. “

Manchester

• 3 libraries – Withington, Wythenshawe and Higher Blackley. (September 2021)

Milton Keynes

• Westcroft Library reopens with Xtra carded entry, January 2019.
• 100k refurbishment for Newport Pagnell Library inc. staffless opening hours. December 2020.

Norfolk

• • Acle – was the pilot.  See a ITV News report on the project here.
  • £920k expected to be spent on this (November 2015).
  • Opening hours and access reduced at Norwich Millennium Library: Open+ introduced.  (May 2016)
  • £120k from tax on new homes to introduce open technology to Plumstead Road, Wroxham and Diss libraries to extend hours.  (April 2017)
  • Hethersett, Martham and Swaffham now also open May 2017.
  •  Long Stratton, Aylsham, Attleborough, Caister, Dersingham, Sheringham, Fakenham, Cromer and Sprowston will also launch in 2017.

“”A lady has just told us that she regularly uses the library for job hunting because she no longer has the internet at home/ She saw a job advertised on Monday morning, came into the library during an open+ session and sent off her CV. She has just heard she had got the job and starts next week” Acle Library, 2015 [Quote supplied to me by Bibliotheca who say “lady was unable to attend the library during standard hours due to caring commitments.” – Ed.]

“I like Norfolk’s self-service terminals & use them a lot. But are they worth £0.9m for a measly few extra hours & less stock?” Christopher Pipe [via Twitter]

North Somerset

• 6 branches to have Open+ introduced (June 2016) at same time 3 of the 6 having staffed time reduced.

Northern Ireland

• Whitehead in pilot paid for by Northern Irish government (December 2017)

Oxfordshire

• Summertown and Eynsham Libraries to have £25k Open+ as pilot scheme: opening hours extended in evenings until 11.30pm.  (September 2016). A third library has also had this installed (source: conversation with Oxfordshire staff: Ed.).
• Rock Road to have staffless technology. (April 2023)

Peterborough

• • • All libraries (nine) except Hampton have Open+.  Details on the decision and on the consultation are here.
    • This is the longest established Open user in the UK and report half of all users have “opted in” to use it, with no security problems. Cut of over £300k in budget but increase in opening hours of 50%. No under 16s allowed, though.

Rotherham

• Mowbray Gardens Library and Brinsworth Community Library have staffless opening hours (February 2023)
•  3-branch staffless library pilot. (February 2020)

Sandwell – Bleakhouse; Brandhall; Cradley Heath; Great Barr; Great Bridge; Hill Top; Langley; Oakham; Rounds Green, Stone Cross and Thimblemill to have Open+  (March 2022)

Salford

• 14.4 FTE jobs lost (one quarter workforce), Open+ to be installed in Boothstown, the Height, Irlam, Ordsall, Hope, Worsley, Cadishead, Little Hulton, Clifton, Lower Kersal and Winton. (September 2017)

South Gloucestershire

• Open+ and volunteers to replace paid staff to keep libraries open. (September 2016)
• “The leader of South Gloucestershire’s Labour councillors has questioned the level of public support for ‘Open Access’ at the district’s libraries, after the Conservative council’s Annual Performance Report revealed that just 13% of eligible users have signed up for the scheme” South Glos Labour (June 2018)

Somerset

• • • Open+ an option in consultation (December 2015)

Staffordshire

•  Open technology considered (September 2017).
•  Staffless pilot at Stafford Library. (February 2020)

Stockport

• • • Open+ technology may be used in 2016. 9 installed before 2022
    • Four more libraries to be become staffless. (January 2022)

Surrey

• Staffless hours introduced, with the first being in Horley and then in other libraries throughout 2024. (January 2024) Camberley and Egham libraries have staffless opening. (March 2024)

Sutton

All eight libraries to have staffless technology introduced, staffing cuts (March 2024)

Swindon

• Tender document for open access technology in one to all libraries (December 2016).
• 5 libraries (Central, North Swindon, West Swindon, Highworth and Park) to have Open installed (March 2017).

Tameside

• 7 libraries (Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hattersley, Hyde, Mossley, Stalybridge) from 2018.

Trafford

• • • Woodsend. “Woodsend Library has open+ technology installed to enable the opening hours of the library to be maintained with reduced staffing”
    • Lostock – “For access to the library on Saturdays and School holidays customers will need access to Open+ technology”
    • Woodsend experiment deemed a success October 2018. New library being built on site of general hospital, with open+.
    •  Altrincham Library opens in new building, soon to be Open+. (2019, 2)

Vale of Glamorgan

• Open+ in Barry Central as pilot and then extended if successful.  (January 2017).

Walsall

• • • 9 libraries may be converted to Open+ (November 2015 news report) – £300k estimated cost.

Wiltshire

• Calne – Library will have staffed opening hours cut: Open+ will mean overall hours increased. (February 2016).
• Devizes – £330k refurbished, with co-location, meeting rooms and Open+.

Wokingham

• 3 libraries (Wokingham, Woodley and Lower Earley) to have unstaffed hours using Open+ to extend opening hours.(March 2016)
• Trial ended after adverse public response: no Open+ now in Wokingham (July 2016).

Worcestershire “Libraries Unlocked”

• Considering unstaffed opening hours. (April 2016)
• Again considering unstaffed opening hours, due to budget cuts (January 2018)
• Stourport staffless to extend hours (May 2022)
• Droitwich (June 2022)
• Staffless opening hours introduced at Kidderminster. Evesham and Pershore (January 2024)
• Wythall, Pershore, Bromsgrove, Hagley, Alvechurch, Rubery, and Warndon and St John’s libraries (March 2024)