Plans have been announced to close the nationally significant Photography Collections Team at the Library of Birmingham, as part of service cuts at Birmingham City Council.

As the proposals currently stand, from 1st April 2015 there will be no Photography Collections Team, and possibly no one left with any specialist knowledge of these nationally and internationally significant collections in the near future. There will be no conservation department to undertake the work of preserving these fragile treasures, there will be little if any cataloguing undertaken and the exhibition programme will disappear entirely.

In 2015-16 the overall library budget in Birmingham will be cut by £1.5 million. By 2018 it is predicted that the budget will have been reduced by £4 million in total. This will be a cut of 40%. The council is proposing to achieve the £1.5 million savings by cutting the Library’s opening hours from 73 to 40 a week; reducing Library staff by over 50% and offering only a basic level of service.

There's a short consultation period running until 12th January 2015. The council has set up a survey here.

You can also email thoughts to budget.views@birmingham.gov.uk or text 'Budget' followed by a space and your message to 07786 200 403.

There are two petitions running: friends of the library are running an e-petition about the library as a whole here, while photographers have a petition specifically about the photography services here.

The new library building opened in 2013. In its first year it attracted 2.7 million visitors, compared to the 1.2 million visiting the old library in its last full year of opening.

Redeye's director, Paul Herrmann, adds: "The Library of Birmingham plays a leading role in British photographic history and culture. They have a world-class collection, but more importantly have been at the forefront of bringing photographic archives into the 21st century, and establishing libraries as photographic centres. The loss of this team and department would be a profound setback to photography in this country. The library itself is a jewel in the landscape. It's the most visited library in the country, in the top ten of British tourist attractions, and the proposed halving of staff and hours less than two years after it opened would be an act of cultural vandalism. I urge everyone to send their views to Birmingham before 12th January."

Francis Hodgson writes "It is quite arguable that the Library of Birmingham is in fact now the very centre of British photography." His full piece is here.

Photo: Alasdair R, Library of Birmingham, via Flickr, under licence.