A multi-million pound project will make the library more visitor-friendly

The body is also aiming to reduce a fifty-year backlog in cataloguing books and material in its National Screen and Sound Archive.

The library in Aberystwyth is also trying to become a more welcoming place for visitors as a �5.3m project to set up a new restaurant, shop and auditorium takes shape.

These changes are being considered as part of the Welsh Assembly culture committee's five-yearly review of the library.

We have already seen more visitors, especially schools, visiting the library Ann Ffrancon Jenkins, head of marketing

The committee is keen on making changes in the way the library is run.

This could result in the disappearance of the library's main body, The Court of Governors, and see the council replaced by a smaller body.

Fifty year backlog

"The review recommended that we should look at our governance strategy and we've been doing that in collaboration with the assembly." said Andrew Green, the body's librarian.

"The main recommendation was that we should get rid of one of our bodies, the Court of Governors, and reform the council, which the operational governing body.

"We're now looking at ways of bringing those changes about."

The review also pointed out high priorities in the library's backlog, including the National Screen and Sound Archive.

"Actually sorting the matter is another question because you'd need a whole army of people to automatically get rid of a backlog that's built up over 50 or 60 years," said Mr Green.

Another change to the library is 'The Visitor Experience' - a �5.3m project funded by the Welsh Assembly, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the library itself.

A new shop displaying the work of local artists and the library's huge collections has already opened.

And an auditorium to view films and other material from the National Screen and Sound Archive is currently being built and is due to open next Spring.

There will also be a temperature and light- controlled room built where visitors can view sensitive and rare material such as the Black Book of Carmarthen, one of the first books written in the Welsh language.

Ann Ffrancon Jenkins is the library's head of marketing.

"We have already seen more visitors, especially schools visiting the library," she said.

The National Library review's recommendations will be impleted by the new culture committee which will be formed after next month's assembly elections.