Today we visited the British Library, and it was one of the coolest places I've ever been. The building is massive, and the stacks aren't even visible from outside! There are four floors of stacks housed beneath the piazza, holding over 35 million items. These are just the items housed at this location. The library hold more than 174 million items in its collection, and the shelving to hold them grows at a rate of approximately 8 miles per year, so much of the collection is housed off-site. Our guide, a librarian at the British Library, informed us that when the library was moved from the British Museum to its current location, it involved moving 140 million items over six years. He called it "the largest move in history." Certainly, moving this collection of ancient, precious, and one-of-a-kind holdings had to have been a labor-intensive, expensive and nerve-wracking undertaking. One of the most noticeable items in the entrance hall is the book bench, pictured above. Our guide explained to us that the book symbolizes learning and wisdom, while the ball and chain symbolizes the necessity of preservation. I like this thought very much, and have developed an attachment to the bench. I wonder if it's possible to have a copy made...?In its new location, the British Library strives to meet the goals it has always held: 1. To acquire the national bibliographic archive, 2. To keep the national bibliographic record, and 3. To make the bibliographic record available. The first two goals are fairly standard for most libraries, although the scope of the British Library makes it unique. What I found most interesting was its third goal, the focus on access. The collections of the British Library can be traced back to 1753, to Sir Hans Sloane's collection in Montague House, the bequest of which formed the core collection of the British Library. Sir Hans Sloane believed that his collection should be accessible to any who sought knowledge, and allowed the public to consult his personal library. The British Library has continued the tradition without fail, and for a library this old to focus on free public access is, to me, very impressive and forward-thinking. To this day, any individual, eighteen years old or older, who wishes to consult an item is allowed to view it in one of the eleven reading rooms.
One of the most surprising revelations during this visit was that the British Library classifies its holdings by size. This flies against all of my experience and knowledge of classification, cataloging, and access. However, upon further examination it does seem to have many practical benefits. A library with hundreds of miles of shelving cannot afford to use time and resources to shift the collection each time new acquisitions are made. Classifying by size eliminates the need for shifting, as whenever new holdings arrive, they can be grouped in new shelving without disturbing the classification system. This would save a great deal of resources, and provided the collection is well-cataloged and shelved correctly, would not have any negative effect on access. This would not be the case in public, circulating libraries, however, where browsing is such an important activity.
After our tour, several of us took the opportunity to browse some of the library's treasures. It was a little bit overwhelming, entering a room filled with so many wonderful books! I felt like a kid in a candy store, wandering from Shakespeare's First Folio to Charlotte Bronte's manuscript of Jane Eyre, from Lady Jane Grey's prayer book to a child's greeting card with the hurriedly scrawled lyrics to a Beatle's song. They also have on display an original copy of the Magna Carta, and one of the Gutenberg Bibles. My only disappointment was that I had just missed Beowulf, which had been removed from the display only days before our tour. I will have to console myself that this requires another visit to London!
In short, this library is not only a treasure for Britain's people, but a world treasure. Every written language in the world is represented in the British Library's holdings, and every citizen with the desire and the means to travel to the British Library to consult the collection is not only allowed, but welcomed. I can think of no better example of classic library principles in action.
In short, this library is not only a treasure for Britain's people, but a world treasure. Every written language in the world is represented in the British Library's holdings, and every citizen with the desire and the means to travel to the British Library to consult the collection is not only allowed, but welcomed. I can think of no better example of classic library principles in action.
