On 10 February 2015, AP reported that Birmingham City Council is dropping plans to cut all specialist staff from the new Library of Birmingham’s Photography Collections.

Clarification

Dr Michael Pritchard, Director-General of The Royal Photographic Society, has clarified the situation with Birmingham City Council. He has told AP: “The Society understands that about five posts will be saved across the whole library. These will be divided between the Children's Library, the Music Library and the Archives Heritage and Photography Department. No specific details of any of these posts or their allocation within the overall service has yet been announced.

There is currently therefore no proposal for a specific post that is responsible for the photography collections nor any other requiring the specialist knowledge required to manage them.

The RPS remains very concerned that the internationally important photography collections held at the Library of Birmingham therefore remain at risk with no substantive proposal from the Council to secure public access to them, or one which would ensure the provision of appropriate resources to catalogue, interpret and conserve and provided informed access for current and future generations”.

Published: 17-02-2015