The British Library

Heather Morley took us on our tour of the British Library. She began with some background information on the library. It was opened in 1998 after moving from its former location in the British Museum. The collection was not housed in adequate storage; therefore they were running out of space and needed to find a new location. The new building was a former railway station from the time of steam trains. The library is a copyright library and must accept everything that is published in the United Kingdom. They receive 8,000 publications new publications each day, and still have to deal with issues of space. She mentioned that more books are being published now than were published in the 1960s, despite the advent of electronic books. Only half of the collection is stored in the building that we visited. Originally the planners wanted to put the library near the museum, but in order to accomplish that they would have had to knock down several historical buildings, which was clearly not an option.

There are many works of art in and around the library. The statue of Sir Isaac Newton in front of the building represents bringing together science and the arts. One side of the library contains the science collection and the other contains the arts. The book connected to the ball and chain in the lobby represents sitting on wisdom. Despite lessons learned in the past, history tends to repeat itself, and we don’t necessarily learn anything from our ancestors’ mistakes. There is a large tapestry hanging in the entry way as well, and this serves a dual purpose. It is an interesting art piece to admire, and it also works to muffle the sound in this area.

In order to use the library facilities one must register for a reader’s pass, just like we were shown in the archives of the British Museum. Access to the reading room is granted based on need. The reader’s pass is free of charge to get and to renew, but a fee is charged if the card is lost. We were able to see how the reader is granted access to the books in one of the reading rooms. The reader chooses the text on the computer, and a ticket prints. The book is sent to the room on a conveyor belt, which brings the book from the basement using both vertical and horizontal motion. The whole process is accomplished through barcodes, but there are no barcodes on the books themselves, only on the tickets. Through the use of this system, no book has ever been lost. Despite this accomplishment, rare books are still transported by hand. There are no pencils, cameras, food, drinks, or gum allowed in these rooms. The library does not use the Dewey Decimal system; the books are organized by size to maximize space.

The Treasures Room was my favorite part of the library. It contains rare manuscripts held by the British Library on display for the public to see. Some of the most exciting for me were: the Magna Carta, Handel’s Messiah, Ravel’s Bolero, Jane Eyre, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, poems by Ted Hughes, a copy of Alice in Wonderland illustrated by Salvador Dali, some lyrics and poems written by the Beatles, a sacred Dao text, the Golden Hagadah, and many more. Words cannot describe how excited I was! If you would like to see some of these works, you can visit the British Library’s website and use their virtual books collection.