THE recent arson incident at Blackburn Central Library (above) gives cause for serious concern. Books on shelves in the reference section were deliberately set on fire by one of the many idle, mooching morons who regularly frequent the building.

Evidently they are getting bored with ripping pages from expensive or irreplaceable books.

The rows of bookshelves are all too vulnerable, situated out of view of supervision. The toilets have recently been closed due to repeated vandalism. The library used to be a nice, quiet, respectable public institution. Not any more. It is more like a school playground.

Will anything be done to ensure there is no repitition of these loutish activities? What about an extension of the security camera system?

J A MARSDEN, Scarborough Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.