THE article in last week's Keighley News about plans for the future of the town's library raises some worrying points.

As was the case at January's public meeting in the library, little detail is given about what, exactly, is planned and what parts of the library building are to be affected.

It might be that the proposed hub can be established without damaging the work of the local studies and lending libraries, but that seems unlikely.

Of particular concern is the future of the archive collection in the local studies library. This collection is probably without parallel in any public library in the country. It is a splendid resource for local and family historians in the Keighley area and is irreplaceable.

In the hands of the present local studies staff it gives local users and visitors easy access to a huge rage of documents on all aspects of the district's history. We are already seeing reductions in accessibility owing to staff shortages and I fear that things might get much worse over the coming months.

If the planners of our library services are in any doubt as to the advisability of their proposals they should ask themselves one question, "what would Ian Dewhirst have thought of this?"

STEVEN WOOD

Haworth

* E-mail your letters to alistair.shand@keighleynews.co.uk