City of York Council is throwing open the doors to its archives in the evening as part of its drive to increase public access to library services.

The council's Archive Service will be opening on Thursday evenings until 7.30pm from this week (Thursday, February 6) following a recent review of staffing and councillors' approval of the extension to help people who work during the day to have an opportunity to use the archive for research or interest.

City archivist Rita Freedman said, "We are delighted to able to do this. We want more people to know that they can come along and look out their ancestors or the history of the house they live in.

"School children can use the archive for research too which will help with their school work."

Councillor Alan Jones, the council's executive member for leisure and heritage said, "The history of where we come from is so important to the community. The city's archive is full of treasures going back 800 years which tell the story of York through the ages and its important that people can have a chance to discover this wonderful resource."

The new opening hours are: Monday to Wednesday, 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm Thursday, 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 7.30pm Friday, 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm

The archives are currently situated alongside York City Art Gallery in Exhibition Square. The location of the service to a better environment for looking after the record is under review and the council's Executive will make a decision on the issue later this year once all of the options have been fully evaluated.

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