The Council owns a substantial set of historic books donated to the Town by Sylvester Petyt. The collection is managed by an independent set of Trustees.
Having previously been housed in a room at Skipton Library, the entire collection is now housed in the archive at the University of York, where the collection is in the process of being professionally curated and catalogued.
It is planned that a small selection of the most significant books in the collection will be displayed, on a rotating basis, as part of the refurbished Craven Museum, when it reopens in 2020. In the meantime, a number of 'open days' are planned at the University.