EUROPE'S first super-library is on the books for Worcester after millions more pounds were promised for the project.

The Government has announced £36.8m funding for a four-storey £50.5m centre to be built on the Butts by 2012.

It adds to £10m secured by University College Worcester from the Higher Education Funding Council last year.

And project leaders are confident they will get the rest

of the money over the next few months.

City and county chiefs were delighted at the news, saying it would be the first library in Europe to house both a university and public library with a record office and history centre.

They hope it will attract a million visitors a year.

The city's very own learning quarter, which will store material from five current libraries, will also include the county archaeology service and multi-agency customer service centre with meeting, exhibition and event areas.

The partners in the project are Worcestershire County Council, University College Worcester, Worcester City Council and Worcester College of Technology.

UCW principal Prof David Green said: "This super-library will be internationally noteworthy. It will play a key role in Worcester's renaissance.

"The library and history centre will be a valuable learning resource for Worcester as a whole. And with a strong emphasis on children and young people, it will help educate future generations for years to come.

"We hope to secure the remainder of the funding from sources such as development agency Advantage West Midlands by the end of the year."

The centre, which will be based on the city council depot on the Butts, will form part of University College Worcester's £130m Castle Street expansion.

The campus development, which is forecast to attract 4,000 extra students to the city to bring numbers up to 12,000, will regenerate the rundown former Worcester Royal Infirmary site.

It has lain empty since Worcestershire Royal Hospital opened in 2002.

The library complex will store books and records from the Foregate Street city library, UCW, Worcester College of Technology and the Chamber of Commerce. The history and resource centre in

Trinity Street will also relocate to the new site.

Bookworms and historians throughout the region will be delighted that such historical gems as William Shakespeare's marriage certificate will be stored at the site.

Worcestershire County Council, which applied for the Government money, was one of six local authority projects to receive a share of £130m public funding towards the cost of a library or sport project under the Private Finance Initiative, which has been responsible for a number of public buildings, including the Worcestershire Royal Hospital.