National Library of Wales missing 2,200 items

About 2,200 items are missing at the National Library of Wales - an increase of 84% in two years.

Among the archives and manuscripts missing are deeds of 13th Century Powis Castle, and "rolls" and "pedigree" documents from Gwrych Castle in Abergele, Conwy county, which twice hosted ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

Among missing books are the history of the national library building itself in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, by Daniel Huws, and books by George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf.

The library is creating a new "collection care" department and is currently recruiting a head of the department, as well as a head of unique collections.

The number unaccounted for is significantly higher than the 1,200 items that were missing when BBC Wales gained figures through a Freedom of Information request in September 2023.

A spokesperson said the increase is due to "new stock checking processes".

The library is a legal deposit library, which means it is entitled to a copy of every print publication in Britain and Ireland, and no items are allowed to be taken from the building.

Of the 2,206 missing items, the request under the latest Freedom of Information Act by BBC Wales showed that:

• 1,708 books and magazines are missing, some since 1999
• 393 maps, some since 1939
• 82 in the "archives and manuscripts" category, some since 1978
• 21 "screen and sound" items, some since 2019
• two items in the "pictures and photographs" category, one since 2009 and the other since 2023

Missing archives include papers of J Glyn Davies whose songs for children include Cerddi Huw Puw (1923), which are based on sailors' songs he had heard during his youth.

These have been described as bearing "the marks of a genius".

Also missing are papers relating to Chirk Castle near Wrexham, the construction of which began around 1295 during the reign of Edward I.

Missing sound recordings include the satirical song "Carlo" by Dafydd Iwan which was written for the investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales in 1969, and a recording by Treorchy Male Choir.

Missing journals include issues of the library's own journal, Welsh History Review, Flintshire Historical Society, Gwent Local History and The Carmarthen Historian.

Missing books cover topics from Owain Glyndŵr, the last native-born Welshman to claim the title Prince of Wales, to a biography of Keir Hardie, the first parliamentary leader of the Labour party.

An 1818 edition of 'The Pleasures of Imagination' by Mark Akenside is missing, as is Lady Charlotte Schreiber's journals (1911), the "confidences" of a collector of ceramics and antiques.

A book by Phil Thompson and Tommy Smith called "Do That Again Son, and I'll Break Your Legs: Football's Hardmen" is also not accounted for.

Missing maps include a malt whisky map of Scotland, and several maps relating to Gogerddan, the principal estate of the old county of Cardiganshire in the 17th century.

The library's head of communications, Rhodri ap Dyfrig, said that staff had "introduced new stock checking processes for published collections and therefore we fully expected that there would be an increase in the items recorded as not being in their correct location".

He added: "The thorough process of monitoring of misplaced items takes place continuously and these checks are a normal and integral part of maintaining standards and good practice in the library sector.

"Due to this constant monitoring and work, the data we provide is a snapshot of a specific period in time, and this figure fluctuates regularly as items are found and relocated."

The library carries out an annual audit of items worth more than £10,000 and no missing items that cross that threshold were found over the last year.

The library's collections include seven million books and newspapers, 1.5 million maps and 950,000 photographs located across 160 miles of shelves.

The Welsh government said: "The care and management of its collections is a matter for the National Library.

"In doing so, it meets the Archive Service Accreditation – the UK-wide standard for archive services."