Swindon’s Central Library is the host of the local studies collection which brings together a variety of resources relating to the town and its history.

Now, the team at the library has taken more steps to make its 7,000 books more accessible to the public.

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Visitors will be able to browse the shop featuring numerous books about Swindon’s past for sale, including one of the most requested books.

The Roll of Honour, a list of those who died during World War Two, was only available in the historical archives at the library until it was reproduced and made available for sale.

Head of libraries Allyson Jordan said: “People kept asking us for a copy of the records of people who had died in the Second World War, but we didn’t have one we could loan out.

“Katherine, who works in local studies, thought about reproducing the book to make what we have more available.

“If you go online you can see a Flickr gallery and you can see all of our collection.

“With local studies, there are lots of reference books, but it was looking at how we could make that available to the public.

“And if we’re going to make income, why not have it come directly to the library and not via a publisher.”

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The shop sells Swindon merchandise including a T-shirt with a magic roundabout diagram on it (or even a tea towel).

Self-published books can also be found here, including the recent book from Swindon’s CAMRA member John Stooke about the town’s past pubs since the 1700s.