The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. The library is a major research library, holding around 170 million items from many countries, in many languages and in many formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings. The Library's collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial holdings of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 2000 BC. The British Library is the largest library in the world by number of items cataloged. As a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. It also has a program for content acquisitions. The British Library adds some three million items every year occupying 6 miles of new shelf space. The library is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is located on the north side of Euston Road in St Pancras, London (between Euston railway station and St Pancras railway station) and has a document storage center and reading room near Boston Spa, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east of Wetherby in West Yorkshire. Part of the library was originally a department of the British Museum and from the mid-19th century occupied the famous round reading room. It became legally separate in 1973, and by 1997 had moved into its new purpose-built building at St Pancras, London. For sightseers, only one room matters: the Treasures Room. It showcases early gospels on papyrus, the first complete New Testament — written in Greek from the fourth century, illuminated manuscripts with pages lovingly illustrated by monks — some of the finest art from Europe’s Middle Ages, and the Gutenberg Bible from 1455. Gutenberg’s revolutionary movable metal type made printing affordable. By bringing information to the masses, this innovation helped power Europe into the modern age. The Magna Carta, from 1215, documents the first steps toward government by people rather than kings…and the king was forced to hang his seal on it. Cases are dedicated to the titans of English literature, showing, for instance, early editions of Shakespeare’s plays. You’ll see precious musical manuscripts: a hand-written score of Handel’s Messiah, a Beethoven work tracing his stormy creative process, and hand-written Beatles lyrics. The British Library was created on 1 July 1973 as a result of the British Library Act 1972. Prior to this, the national library was part of the British Museum, which provided the bulk of the holdings of the new library, alongside smaller organisations which were folded in (such as the National Central Library, the National Lending Library for Science and Technology and the British National Bibliography). For many years its collections were dispersed in various buildings around central London, in places such as Bloomsbury (within the British Museum), Chancery Lane, Bayswater, and Holborn with an interlibrary lending centre at Boston Spa, Wetherby in West Yorkshire (situated on Thorp Arch Trading Estate) and the newspaper library at Colindale, north-west London. Initial plans for the British Library required demolition of an integral part of Bloomsbury – a seven acre swathe of streets immediately in front of the Museum, so that the Library could be situated directly opposite. After a long and hard-fought campaign led by Dr George Wagner, this decision was overturned and the library was instead constructed on a site at Euston Road next to St Pancras railway station. Tourist and Research Information
The British Library 96 Euston Road London,NW1 2DB Phone: +44 (0)20 7412 7332 Opening Times: The British Library building at St Pancras, Central London, is open to visitors seven days a week (apart from a few public holidays). Mon, Fri: 9:30am - 6:00pm Tue, Wed, Thu : 9:30am - 8:00pm Sat: 9:30am - 5:00pm Sun: 11:00am - 5:00pm Last admission is an hour before closing For more information about the library including research information, exhibitions, alternate opening times, food and drink services, etc. check out the official website below! Cheers!
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