The campaign to keep the county’s lending collections public, instead of being shoved into a warehouse, as Herts County Council plans, took a major step forward, with the launch of an online petition called savenewbarnfieldlibrary.

LibDem county councillor Malcolm Cowan, who has set this up, says: ‘I have been contacted by residents concerned that one of the most important collections in the country will become hidden from view, restricting the work of the many music and drama groups who use the reference, music and drama collections as well as schools, professional musicians and researchers.

‘In addition, they wonder whether a warehouse would actually be a safe place to keep these collections, which, if they were to be split up, or damaged, might never be recreated. What incentive is there to add to and update the present collection if it is kept out of sight?’

Malcolm added: ‘I urge everyone concerned about this cheapskate decision by the county council to sign up, and urge friends and colleagues to sign up as well. We really must keep collections intended to be borrowed in a place where people can see them.’

Lib Dem Leader Chris White, who leads for his group on library matters, said: ‘It is not enough to say that access will be available via the on-line catalogue. People have made it very clear to us that they want to be able to browse the collection in public. I am glad to say that some of the council’s officials seem now prepared to take notice.’

Notes:

The link to the campaign site is here: http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/savenewbarnfieldlibrary