As a scholar who has used the Colindale Newspaper Library for nearly 20 years, I do not recognise the negative portrait painted of it in the article by Huw Richards ("Moving words", 7 January). Will the new location in St Pancras have a free all-day car park? Will the nearby eating facilities in St Pancras provide reasonably priced food, or will they charge £3 for a coffee and £5 for a posh sandwich? As to Colindale being likened to Eastern Europe, I assume the writer is familiar only with five-star waiter service. As someone who has actually used archives in Russia, the comparison is completely misplaced.
Like the termination of the circular Reading Room of the main British Library, the closure of Colindale will further erode the sense of history and accumulated experience that historians are supposed to appreciate.
Vincent Barnett, Harrow, Middlesex.
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