Dear colleagues and friends worldwide,

                         The object of this message  is  to  give you some advanced warning  of  a   planned closure of the RAS  Library and  Archives facilities for an extended period.   Plans are   in the early stages at the  moment but it is likely that  the whole  collection in the main  part  of Burlington House  will be moved  out into storage  some time  in late  2006   for a period  planned as a  year but these things have a way of   extending!  The  object of the  exercise is to  enable a complete refurbishment of the  RAS building   with greatly improved  facilities   for Fellows and staff, and,  particularly  from the Library point of view, environmentally   controlled  storage for the Rare Books and  Archives.   The details have still to be worked out  but the  overall message is  that if you want to come and use  the  RAS collections  aim to do  it before the Autumn of  2006 !   The staff  will do  their best to provide  a restricted service on a ‘request in advance’  basis  but this will  inevitable be slow and inconvenient. 

                                  Please forward this to any relevant  Lists on which it has not already appeared, with apologies for any duplication.

                                                     Best wishes

                                                                Peter D Hingley