Camden’s Local Studies and Archives Centre

Published: 26th May, 2011

• I WELCOME the May 19 article by Dan Carrier which reminded all of us of the wealth and interest in the archives of Camden’s Local Studies and Archives Centre. These archives are irreplaceable and looked after by a staff which goes out of its way to make them accessible and usable.

In Camden we have a good reputation in this sphere of public service and we must hope that the present need to find economies will exempt the centre because its expenditure is modest and its staff, already reduced, is small.

You reported that of those who responded to the questionnaire asking library users to choose where economies should fall, 38 per cent said that the Local Studies should close. In fact that is misleading. The figure was 28 per cent and that percentage (itself a dubious figure) were in favour of spending less on local studies, not closing it.
John Richardson
Chairman, Camden History Society

• TOUGH choices lie ahead (Dust-up over threat to archives, May 19) as everyone is seek­ing to protect front-line services. And £2million must be found from the libraries budget – no mean task when trying to save Camden’s libraries. 

As I understand it, the Holborn archive would be moved to a shared site with Islington. Sharing services to protect them in times like this is a sensible approach and, although not perfect, preferable to the other difficult choices.
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Rona Road, NW3