Wider fears over historic collection (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Wider fears over historic collection

12:10pm Thursday 26th April 2012 in Letters

AFTER the article in last week’s Shuttle, and the many valid letters about the possible loss of the gallery and meeting rooms in Kidderminster Library, please remember first and foremost, this is a library. Time is running out, and maybe we should look at it from the wider point of view regarding book stock too.

The proposed plans show a considerable loss of space on the first floor to accommodate new meeting rooms, thus reducing actual book space further.

Besides general non- fiction stock, this floor also houses reference and local history material. This collection was started in the 1880s and maintained by the Borough Council until reorganisation to the county council in 1974, only surpassed in the county by the History Centre/Record Office collections.

It houses a large local book stock, plus over 12,000 photographs, ephemera, microfilm and maps dating back to the 1800s, so much of which is of considerable value and just irreplaceable, I feel concern over its future entirety.

Come on all you local historians and researchers, there are many more questions to be answered from this point of view, before it is too late.

NAME SUPPLIED Stourport