I am writing in response to the letter from Chris Hunter (South China Morning Post, November 29).
He states that the British Council has made no adequate response to inquiries about the closure of the library. We have tried to reply to every inquiry received, including some from Mr Hunter himself, and will shortly be issuing a letter to every recent library member stating our disposal policy.
Mr Hunter also states that 'offers . . . to take on this material, and even buy it, by high-level educators and others . . . have got nowhere to date'.
Some schools and individuals have asked if they can buy the material. However, we have declined these offers because it would mean that the material would be out of the public domain. Our priority has been to ensure continued public access, except in circumstances where a donation of materials to a non-public access institution would be highly appropriate.
As a result of this policy we can now confirm the following:
8,500 items - just under half the collection - will be donated to the English-speaking Union library in Central;
3,500 items from the young learner collection will be donated to a new public access library to be opened by the Po Leung Kuk group of schools in Wan Chai in the spring;