Herefordshire Council's record office will be closed for its annual stock take from Monday 24 November to Friday 12 December inclusive, reopening at 9:15 on Monday 15 December.
The services provided, which include helping people use local records to track family and local history, have become increasingly popular with around 5,600 people visiting the office every year.
The annual closure will allow the staff to tackle tasks which they can't usually undertake due to the volume of customers needing help in the public search room. This year, these tasks will include checks on microform sources; cataloguing of a series of magistrate court records; further work on an electronic location index which will help staff retrieve requested documents more quickly.
In addition the records office will be taking delivery of a large local photographic collection, the Derek Evans collection, comprising negatives and prints covering 50 years of stories and events of local, national and even international interest, which will need to be sorted for storage prior to full cataloguing at a later date.
Despite being unable to visit in person, users can still contact the office by phone, email or letter.
Senior Archivist, Rhys Griffith said, "This annual closure is welcomed by staff as an ideal opportunity to undertake a variety of tasks that would usually be difficult to carry out when the public are in the building. And if users can't wait until Monday 15 December, they can always visit us on our stall at the Castle Green Fayre on Sunday 7 December."