During the early days of World War 2 London was under considerable air raid attacks from German bombers which destroyed a large part of the library building and over 225,000 books were lost in 1941 fortunately a number of valuable items were taken to another location. After 1945 the building and bookstacks were rebuilt. By the 1960's storage space for the collection became a problem. During this decade consideration of extending the Museum Library (Bloomsbury site) but this proposal was abandoned in 1967.
Libraries that contributed to the British Library
Patent Office Library 1962 National Library of Science and Invention
"The Second World War highlighted the need for a comprehensive scientific and technological network in the UK, specifically for a national library of science and technology. In the late 1940s and 50s there was considerable debate among the Scientific Community whether the collections of the libraries of the British Museum or the Patent Office should serve as the nucleus of this: the position was resolved in 1959 when a Working Party on the issue recommended that the proposed library should be based on the collections of both libraries and put under the control of the Museum Trustees. The National Reference Library of Science and Invention (as it was called) was set up in 1962, administratively as part of the British Museum library".
National Central Library
"The National Central Library was founded in 1916 as the Central Library for Students. It was financed out of grants from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, and its primary purpose was to lend books to adult class students who had no other sources for borrowing. In 1927 the Kenyon Committee on Public Libraries envisaged the library developing as the central clearing-house of an inter-library network embracing all the nation's resources, and it suggested that this development should take place under the aegis of the British Museum. In 1966 the NCL moved to a new building in Store Street near the British Museum Library".
National Lending Library for Science and Technology
"The third major component of the British Library consisted of the National Central Library or NCL which began operation in 1916 in London and the National Lending Library for Science and Technology (NLLST), in service since 1961 at Boston Spa in Yorkshire. These were amalgamated in 1973 as the British Library Lending Division (BLLD).
"During the 1970s the range of services was expanded and made available to international customers and use of technology became a more integral part of the service. The use of Automated Requesting grew by about 40% in this time and the Lending Division often acted in collaboration with academic and scientific partners in early days of exploring the future of fax transmission and satellite communications.
In 1985, the title was changed to the British Library Document Supply Centre to reflect the changing emphasis of document supply in which a greater proportion of requests were for copies of articles rather than loans".
The British Library Newspaper Collection
The British Museum collected newspapers from the 1820’s. By the 19th Century there was no more storage space at the British Museum and the bill of 1900 proposed to put a stop to the collection of English provincial, Irish, Welsh and Scottish newspapers. However there was considerable opposition to this proposal and a new site was established at Colindale (North London). A newspaper repository was built in 1828 and completed in 1932 with facilities for readers. This building was under attack during World War 2 resulting in a loss of over 6,000 provincial newspaper. Two temporary buildings were constructed and plans for a new repository put in place in1943 and new wing completed in 1957 and is still used today. In 1973 this Newspaper Library became part of the new British Library. Over the last decades the Reading Rooms have been extended to include microfilm area. In 1996 further extensions provide the users with network access to On-line newspapers and newspapers on CD ROMS. The collections provides access to British and overseas newspapers as well as holdings on trade papers, magazines and comics.
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British Museum Newspaper Repository British Museum Newspaper Repository 1980's |