SIR – We view with alarm the report of Coun Hinchcliffe’s recent interview on the Central Library. It ignores the problems specific to the local studies department which is based at the library. The comments are relevant to lending and ‘looking it up’ requirements, but local studies is a research department.

It involves consulting the analytical indexes (not online) then moving from book to article to map to specialised collections, and so on.

During this last year, each of these moves has had to be pre-ordered as staff need to find the material. There are now virtually no staff available to do this immediately or to put material away after use, so there has to be a wait of two or three days.

This is difficult for locals but impossible for visiting reseachers. To find your way around this department the knowledge and experience of dedicated librarians is essential.

People who undertake research may be academics from around the world. The results of their work may be cascaded to others as talks or articles.

Bradford Family History Society has worldwide membership. It has taken more than 150 years to amass the collections housed here. Much is irreplaceable. It is not all available on the internet.

Kath Alred, chairman, Bradford Family History Department, Wilmer Drive, Heaton