Dublin City Council officials are proposing to slash funding for public library services by a further €1.2m next year – on top of a €4.5m cut already introduced this year, the Sunday Tribune has learned.

This has prompted fears that Dublin's public libraries will have to resort to supplying mainly old, outdated materials to job hunters, schoolchildren and other users of the service due to the potential impact on its acquisitions budget.

It could also lead to reduced opening hours and the withdrawal of weekend opening hours for some libraries, although the council has refused to comment on whether this aspect of its services will be targeted.

Amid ongoing attempts to tackle historically low literacy rates – and despite the fact that Dublin was earlier this year named one of just four Unesco world cities of literature in perpetuity – council officials told a key strategy committee earlier this month that they would be seeking the cuts of €1.2m next year. A spokesman for the council confirmed that the overall budget for the public library system fell from €24m in 2009 to just €19.5m this year.

Significantly the budget for "new acquisitions" – typically newly-released books and other reading materials and learning aids – also fell by more than €700,000 to €1.8m this year.

Labour Party councillor and inner-city primary school principal Aodhan O'Riordan, a member of the council's strategic policy committee for arts, sport and youth affairs, said he was hugely concerned about the potential impact of the funding cuts.

While he acknowledged council officials were under pressure to achieve savings due to intense budgetary pressures, he said the resources which were provided by the city's libraries had seldom been more in demand at a time when well over 400,000 people were unemployed.

O'Riordan, who used his previous term as deputy city mayor to successfully campaign for increased library services, added that the service was already under huge strain due to the cuts implemented this year.

"Public libraries are often the first port of call for information on courses, retraining and other important pieces of information. They are also a focal point for people in the community, and are already having to curtail services like local history talks and groups," he said. "You are not going to get kids to read unless you have the latest Hannah Montana- or Jedward-related magazines and books. This really is a retrograde proposal."

A council spokesman declined to comment on the proposed €1.2m funding cut outlined to councillors earlier this month. "Dublin City Council's budget for 2011 is currently being prepared," he said. "It will be presented to the elected members for their consideration in due course."

Welcoming Dublin's designation as a Unesco city of literature last July, culture minister Mary Hanafin said it was "a great recognition of the vast literary wealth for which we are renowned and will be a welcome boost for cultural tourism".