Part of a cathedral library is to be closed despite it being extended five years ago with the help of £1m National Lottery grant.

The staff of four at York Minster's library were told at the weekend there would be three redundancies, and that much of the holdings would be found new homes.

The news follows the announcement of controversial plans to begin charging for entry at the Minster in an attempt to cover a £600,000 shortfall in its finances.

Canon Theologian Jonathan Draper said that no decisions had been made about what material would be going and where it would be going.

He said: "The library is a very expensive way of providing a few with access to material which can usually be found elsewhere.

"We are certainly not looking to have a jumble sale of the material."

The 13th Century building was almost doubled in size in 1998 when money from the Heritage Lottery Fund helped finance an extension, housing a reading room, a special collections room and a conservation workshop.

The library holds thousands of books, strong in theology, and medieval and ecclesiastical history.

Chapter Steward Peter Lyddon said the savings were necessary, but the Minster did not intend to sell a large proportion of its 120,000 books.

He said: "We hope to ensure that the archives section and conservation studio remain available and to develop the use of the building in the future."