ASKING questions is always worthwhile. There are people employed by the City of York Council who seem to do little else; and some very interesting questions they come up with! The trouble is, they rarely ask the questions I want answered.

A good example is the archive consultation issue. Had this questionnaire been produced two years ago, before Museum Services were accused (no doubt unjustly) of backstairs negotiations, the questions would have been highly appropriate.

Now, when our managers are eager to be finished with the 'consultation process', the questionnaire looks like an afterthought and the questions no more than a cunning snare to catch the unwary. After all, who does not want "the best environmental conditions possible," or "knowledgeable staff"?

York City Archives is not just a repository for our history and heritage, it is also a dynamic institution in the hands of an expert team dedicated to record the fleeting present for future generations. How can this be done anywhere half so well as in the heart of York? Heslington? Let the councillors run off there if they so wish, and take their managers with them.

The question I answered squarely is this: do the people of York side with the archivists and researchers in their desire to see the archives remain and flourish in their midst, or would they rather accept a hike in council tax, and bless the managers for relieving them of the burden of civic pride?

William Dixon Smith,

Welland Rise,

Acomb, York.

...AS a frequent user of the city archives and Borthwick Institute, I attended the public meeting in the Tempest Anderson Hall on April 4, and left totally dissatisfied with many questions left unanswered.

The meeting was a public relations exercise for the council to save the expense of a judicial review. We were given only a limited time for questions and eight answers after we were told why the archives and Borthwick had to move to the University. Something puzzles me greatly. Chris Webb, the assistant director of the Borthwick, told us that a new building to house all the archives and Borthwick documents would be built with hydro absorbic materials to draw the moisture out of the air a person brings in, thereby increasing the life of the documents.

When I checked with two building firms about the properties of hydro absorbic material no one had ever heard of the material.

Could Chris Webb or anyone tell me where I may find some hydro absorbic material? Also, why aren't new buildings built with this material as it would cut peoples heating bills and increase the life of the building?

David Gibson,

Eldon Street,

The Groves, York.

Updated: 11:08 Thursday, April 25, 2002