"We have funding in place through to the next financial year in 2003 but we are looking at how we will secure further funding in the long term," said Corporation of London director of libraries and art galleries David Bradbury

A source said that the library needed around 350,000 a year to keep it operational and that in recent years it had lost 2m in government subsidiaries.

But Bradbury said there was "no crisis" and that the library was serving a much wider audience than its traditional printing users.

"There has been a lot of pressure on all funding lately, but we are working closely with the friends of St Brides on avenues we can explore," said Bradbury.

The St Brides printing library opened in 1895 as a technical library housing collections such as the library of master printer William Blades, the author of a classic study of William Caxton (pictured), and technical journalist John Southward.

The librarys premises were secured in 1992 by the Corporation of London, which had been responsible for its day-to-day administration since 1966.

Story by Andy Scott