A CENTURIES-old library is to become a casualty of York Minster's financial crisis.

The Dean and Chapter are to close the national treasure-trove of priceless books in the Minster library as they attempt to balance the Gothic cathedral's accounts.

They announced hugely controversial admission charges for the Minster earlier this month.

The library's closure, in effect from August, has shocked city scholars.

"If this is true, which I can hardly believe, it is absolutely disgraceful," said Dr Charles Kightly, who led opposition to City of York Council's move of its archives to the University of York.

"The Minster library is a direct descendant of one which has been there probably since the time of Alcuin in Saxon days.

"This decision is actually far, far worse than any possible move of the city archives.

"The Dean and Chapter are temporary caretakers, and what gives them the right to disperse of it like this? The Minster has had financial problems for centuries and has never done this. I really find it stupefying."

Bernard Barr, who was librarian at the Minster for 37 years, said: "It would be an enormous loss. I would call this a case of intellectual vandalism."

The library holds tens of thousands of books dating back to before the 1500s. Minster Canon Theologian, Jonathan Draper, said it had yet to be decided where the collection would go.

He said an attempt would be made to rehouse pre-18th Century material elsewhere in the Minster. Most of the remainder would be disposed of.

He said: "No decisions have been made about what's going and where it's going, but the library will be closing.

"The library is a very expensive way of providing a few with access to material which can usually be found elsewhere.

"We are certainly not looking to have a jumble sale of the material."

He said the archive, which is separate from the library and contains the Anglo-Saxon York Gospels and unique maps of the Battle of Marston Moor, would remain.

The library and archives share the same building, which is a converted Medieval chapel in Dean's Park. The building would continue to house the archives.

A proposal has also been made to move some of the City of York archives in with the Minster collection.

The building got a £1 million extension only five years ago, funded largely by the Heritage Lottery Fund. But Canon Draper said: "The bulk of the (extension) was, in fact, about the archives and the conservation studio and only to a limited extent about the library itself. Given the commitment of the Dean and Chapter to the future of the archives, it can be argued that the intentions of the (extension) are not only intact in these decisions, but are moving more towards fulfilling the original intentions of the building."

The Dean and Chapter have carried out a review of all of the work carried out by the Minster.

Canon Draper said: "Simply, two questions have been asked of everything we do - do we need this part of our work, and can we afford it? However much others may feel a need for them, the Dean and Chapter do not exist to provide library facilities for others."

Updated: 11:05 Friday, May 23, 2003