TWELVE libraries, including Minchinhampton and Painswick, are facing the chop if community groups do not step forward and take them over because of the GCC cuts.

Meanwhile, staff will be cut from libraries in Stonehouse and Nailsworth, which will switch to self-service machines with a smaller range of stock and relocate to alternative buildings.

These will be called Link Libraries and will move into community buildings, belonging to either police or NHS.

The idea is that customers will be able to get health advice or register their baby’s birth and pick up their books at the same time.

Leader of Gloucestershire County Council Mark Hawthorne said £2.5m of savings were planned over the next four years and one of the biggest changes would be the council’s attempt to transfer 12 libraries to community groups.

Cllr Hawthorne said: "This is the library service we would design if we were starting from scratch, libraries as one-stop shops for all local services; investing in the latest technology and giving communities the chance to run their local service.

"It is not new, we have not made this up. There is a huge track record of this happening around the country and they do a much better job."

Despite Painswick library closing in December 2009 due to safety issues, it is still being offered to the community to run, even though the county decided not to re-open the building because of the expense.

There is, however, a weekly mobile library that visits the town but it will now be withdrawn. Communities taking over libraries would be able to rent the current buildings at a peppercorn rent, or, if they wanted to transport them into their own buildings, could bid for a percentage share of the sale of the building.

Consultation will start in November, running for three months, with communities invited to present a case for their own community-run library next spring.

Other areas which do not have a library but wish to start one will be able to buy a Library in a Box package containing all they need to start it up.

A 24/7 virtual library service will enable customers to download books and audio CDs from the library catalogue or order books and CDs to be delivered to their homes.