Librarians' Christian Fellowship

Louise Manners reports:

Members of the Librarians' Christian Fellowship visiting the largest cathedral library in England, York Minster Library, which holds a collection of approximately 120,000 books, tracts and pamphlets, were welcomed warmly by John S. Powell of the University Library staff and were unexpectedly offered wine and soft drinks provided for visitors to an exhibition of pictures of the Minster.

The LCF last visited ten years ago during a period of refurbishment when dust sheets and ladders were very much in evidence. Since then, in 2003, the library has been threatened with closure. More recently the library starred in a BBC2 documentary about York Minster.

The collection is owned by the Dean and Chapter but usage by Minister staff and local clergy is low. Post-graduate students could use the collection more but are unfamiliar with terminology used in catalogue records. If students are not from a Christian background they may find the terminology confusing and not locate key source information. New cataloguing terms are being used to open up the collection for use as source material.

The library also houses a huge collection of local history and holds a collection of 1,000 theatre play-bills.

Currently the Minster Library is open to the public Monday to Thursday 9.00 am to 5. 00 pm and Friday 9.00 am to noon.

A longer version of this report appears in the Winter 2007 edition of Christian Librarian.