51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

The British Film Institute plans to remove its collection from an accessible site in central London to its archive store in Berkhamsted - with no public transport running between the archive and the nearest railway station ("Fears of the cutting room floor: BFI plans alarm sector", 20 January).

A few selected items may be retained at the BFI's site on the South Bank; for the rest we are offered "digitised delivery". But what can this mean when thousands of books in the collection do not exist in digitised form, nor is the BFI likely to ensure that they do?

The best way of serving the public is not to cut off the root that has fostered and sustained the UK's lively moving image culture. We are not aware of any consultation with library users, still less with donors to the collection.

A merger with the British Library seems to be the most promising solution. The BFI must talk to users who are directly affected by this disastrous decision and who, like us, can see the long-term damage it will cause.

Tim Bergfelder, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southampton, Charlotte Brunsdon, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Warwick, Robert Burgoyne, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of St Andrews, Edward Buscombe, former head of BFI Publishing, John Caughie, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Glasgow, Richard Collins, The Open 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Pam Cook, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southampton, Elizabeth Cowie, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Kent, John Ellis, Royal Holloway, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of London, Christine Geraghty, Glasgow, Christine Gledhill, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Sunderland, Mark Jancovich, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of East Anglia, Dina Jordanova, St Andrews, Annette Kuhn, Queen Mary, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of London, Barry Langford, Royal Holloway, Laura Mulvey, Birkbeck, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of London, Steven Neale, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Exeter, Murray Smith, Kent, Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, Queen Mary, Peter Stanfield, Kent, Sarah Street, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Bristol, Yvonne Tasker, UEA, Terry Threadgold, pro vice-chancellor, Cardiff 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Ginette Vincendeau, King¡¯s College London, Linda Ruth Williams, Southampton.