Cathedral Libraries Catalogue
INTRODUCTION
Access to Cathedral Libraries
It is likely that the publication of
this Catalogue will increase the demands
made on the resources of the cathedral
libraries.
We would ask those who need to
access to early printed books in
person or who request postal information to
remember that the cathedral libraries
are not public libraries.
Only a few of them have full-time professional
staff.
Some have no staff at all and any
requests made must be dealt with by the
Canon Librarian who will have many
other claims on his time.
A query of some bibliographical
complexity is likely to be very taxing
for an untrained volunteer.
Requests about individual books should include full
details of author, title, imprint, etc.
(and not simply STC or Wing number)
since many libraries simply do not own copies
of the standard reference works.
Equally, the cathedrals (contrary to
popular belief) do not enjoy vast
revenues.
The courtesy of a stamped addressed
envelope for a reply would always be
appreciated.
Several cathedrals do have professional
staff, in some cases provided by a
local university library.
Here, a wider range of
technical help might be expected.
At the time of writing, the cathedrals
with resident specialist staff include
Canterbury, Chichester, Durham,
Hereford, Lincoln,
Salisbury, St Paul's and York,
and of course
those specialist libraries
where some cathedral collections
are deposited.
Exeter, Lichfield, Ripon, Rochester, Winchester, and Worcester
have access to occasional specialist help.
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