News / Education
Central Library books to be sold off
Surplus books at Bristol Central Library will be sold off or rehoused elsewhere in the city as work begins converting the basement into a controversial new school.
The bottom two floors of the 1906 library are already being vacated ready for the Cathedral Primary School to expand, creating 420 new school places.
About a quarter of a million books and other reference materials will be moving to B Bond warehouse, the home of the Create Centre, where they can be ordered for transportation to the library.
But some “duplicate”, “under-used” and “never-used” books will be sold at public book sales organised by the library service and starting on Monday, August 17.
The reserve lending stock and the art reference book stock will remain at the Central Library, and will be moved to a different location in the building.
But a number of other books identified as “no longer needed” are being either sold or offered for reuse to academic libraries and special interest groups.
The council said: “These include duplicate holdings of bound newspapers; national newspapers given to the library service many decades ago; duplicate and under-used books and music sets; runs of bound periodicals which can now be accessed on line and books and periodicals donated to the library service, but never used.”
The process should be completed by the end of the year. Some of the material being moved will not be available during this time.
Brenda Massey, assistant Mayor for education, said: “We will do everything we can to minimise disruption to the library service during this process, but we apologise for any inconvenience caused to the public.
“Most of the lending store books will be remaining in Central Library, so if you want to borrow them the process will be the same as now. For reference items that are moved to B Bond you will be able to request them from the library in person, by phone or by email.”
The new Cathedral Primary School, which was given final planning permission in March, is being funded by the Government’s Education Funding Agency (EFA).
The main Library may see some layout changes to expose glass bricks, currently under carpet, to allow more light to the basement.
The controversial school plans were met with widespread opposition when announced in 2014.
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