The invention discloses a safe bookshelf. The safe bookshelf is segmented into a plurality of book grids, each book grid correspondingly stores one book, each book grid is provided with a book grid door, each book grid door is provided with an electronic lock, and the bottom of each book grid is provided with a pressure transducer; and one side of the safe bookshelf is provided with a self-service system, the self-service system comprises a microprocessor and a label scanner, a fingerprint acquisition module, a man-machine interaction module, a storage module and a network communication module which are connected with the microprocessor, and the control end of the electronic lock of each book grid is connected with the microprocessor. The invention also discloses a self-service borrowing and returning method based on the safe bookshelf. According to the invention, by use of a man-machine interaction function between the bookshelf and a user, self-service borrowing and returning are realized, the manpower cost of a library is reduced, and book service and management are improved.