The British Library

THE BRITISH LIBRARY

Last Monday the 30th September the Rotary Club of March were given an illustrated presentation on the British Library by Andy Stephens OBE, BSc, MCILIP ~ Board Secretary and Head of International Engagement at the Library.

Rtn. John Orbell introduced Andy to the Club.

Andy traced the history of the Library which came into existence by Act of Parliament in 1973 when the library departments of the British Museum, the National Central Library, and the National Lending Library (the centre for interlibrary lending, located at Boston Spa in Yorkshire) were administratively combined. To accommodate all the records and treasures in the Library's keeping a new building at St. Pancras was opened in 1998.

The Library receives a copy of every publication produced in the UK and Ireland. The total collection currently includes well over 150 million items, in most known languages and 3 million new items are added every year. All this requires over 625 km of shelves, and grows by around 12 km every year.

Andy talked about some of the priceless treasures the Library holds, which includes the world's earliest dated printed book the Diamond Sutra and two copies of the Magna Carta.

After a question and answer session Rtn. Nick Kime thanked Andy on behalf of the Club for a most enjoyable and interesting insight into the working of the British Library