AUTHORS WRITE TO THE EDITOR OF THE NZ HERALD - PUBLISHED 1 OCTOBER

Dear Sir,

We were alarmed to read Dr Donald Kerr's letter in Saturday's Herald regarding the restructuring of staff at the Auckland Public Library.

How on earth could an institution publish a book like Iain Sharp's magnificent REAL GOLD;TREASURES OF THE AUCKLAND CITY LIBRARIES, then a year later start 'restructuring'--pulling the plug on--its heart, mind and soul.Qualified, specialist staff are an essential component of a library blessed with such research facilities and special collections.

They help writers, students, researchers and the general public find materials--they explain and elucidate; they nurture as well as enable scholarship. They are as much a part of the library as the books are.Specialist librarians cannot be replaced by mere bouncers at the door 'guarding the treasures'.

Unless an institution like the Auckland Public Library is seen as culturally responsible, scrupulous, conscientious and scholarly in the attention that it pays the treasures in its collection then what chance does it have of gaining bequests and gifts? When Victoria University secretly sold off Colin McCahon's painting STORM WARNING in 1999 they betrayed the trust not only of their benefactors but also of everyone in the institution.

It is doubtful they will ever completely regain that faith.New Zealand's largest city should not let its collection or the management of that collection fall beneath the standards set by the Hocken Library in Dunedin or the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. The Auckland Public Library has that degree of respect presently--it should not place it in jeopardy.

Yours faithfully,

Gregory O'Brien and Jenny Bornholdt