The Library of Birmingham's renowned photographic archives remain at risk despite a council U-turn on proposed budget cuts, it has been claimed.

The influential Royal Photographic Society says it remains concerned for the future of the nationally recognised archives and four specialist staff.

Archivist roles were among 100 jobs at the landmark library placed at risk when a £1.5 million package of cuts to its £10 million-a-year running costs was proposed in December.

By last week, Birmingham City Council's Labour leadership found an extra £200,000 and said most of this would be used to scale back the threat to the archives and children's library and save up to ten jobs as a result.

Council bosses said they had listened to budget consultation responses, which included a 3,000-name petition specifically calling for the photographic archives to be protected.

News the archives were to have cuts withdrawn was greeted as a victory for common sense by a leading campaigner.

Now, the Royal Photographic Society says celebrations may have been premature and warns specialist jobs have not yet been saved.

Director general Dr Michael Pritchard said they had sought clarification on the budget changes and found the battle was not over.

He said: "The society understands that about five posts will be saved across the whole library. These will be divided between the children's library, the music library and the archives heritage and photography department.

"No specific details of any of these posts or their allocation within the overall service has yet been announced.

"There is currently therefore no proposal for a specific post that is responsible for the photography collections nor any other requiring the specialist knowledge required to manage them.

"The RPS remains very concerned the internationally important photography collections, held at the Library of Birmingham, therefore remain at risk with no substantive proposal from the council to secure public access to them or one which would ensure the provision of appropriate resources to catalogue, interpret and conserve and provided informed access for current and future generations."

Among those to lobby for protection for the service was a group of prominent, nationally recognised photographers who have donated personal archives to Birmingham on the basis they would be looked after, regularly exhibited and made available to the public.

Director of the library Brian Gambles confirmed details of the changes had yet to be finalised.

He said: "It is anticipated the £200,000 will enable a small number of posts to be saved to help deliver services provided by the children's library, the music library and the archives heritage and photography department.

"The Library of Birmingham has not yet finalised the staff restructure necessary to implement the council's budget savings programme.

"Access to the collections will unfortunately be restricted as a result of the necessary budget savings, even with the additional funding however, the collections themselves are not at risk because they are stored in secure, environmentally controlled conditions designed to protect them long term."