LIBRARY users will be able to return books 24 hours a day when Blackburn's new-look facility opens later this month.

Council bosses say that video shop-style deposit boxes will be set up at the entrances to the central library, in Town Hall Street.

They hope it will encourage people to return books, CDs, DVDs and cassettes.

At present people cannot return items borrowed outside opening hours and around 5,000 of these -- worth about £40,000 -- go missing every year.

Blackburn Central Library closed last month for six weeks to allow builders to complete a £1million refit which will turn it into the country's most modern library.

Coun Kate Hollern, executive member for leisure and culture at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "We want to make the library as accessible as possible. By providing the 24-hour return boxes, people can return books whenever they can, Hopefully that means less stock will be lost.

"We have looked at various aspects of retail businesses to see what we can learn. The library will feel much more like a book store and the idea is to make people feel at home."

People will also be able to ring a 24-hour answerphone to extend loans on books, rather than clock up fines.

The library should re-open on April 24, and will include more computers with internet access, a quiet study area, multi-media equipment designed to appeal to teenagers, self-service booking-out machines, improve study support and homework help, more music, video, DVD and CD Roms, better access for disabled people, more space for community use and a creche facility.

The council is also threatening to take people to court if they do not return stock. Letters are to be sent to offenders, followed by home visits by librarians and bailiffs. And if that fails, the council will take court action to recover missing items, senior officers warned last month. w