Talk:British Library

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[edit] Fee

Hi there, this page says there is a £10 fee for signing up. I signed up today for free, apparently the £10 fee is only if you lose your card. This is the impression their website seems to give as well. I won't change as I'm new to these things

[edit] Building

Slightly suprised that there's no info about the new building, it's budget over-runs, small size etc Dan100 (Talk) 19:50, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

What about the digs Prince Charles took at it?Sumergocognito 04:10, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photos of gate?

Is it necessary to have two photos of the gate and its metal grill in the section 'Historical Background'? The one on the left is not very good quality, and should perhaps be taken down, since the one on the right serves the purpose just as well.

86.133.239.63 15:14, 11 March 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Library in Popular Culture

Perhaps a section on the British Library in Popular Culture might be added, so that a link to Read_or_Die might find a home? After all, how many libraries have their own anime movie and television series?

[edit] Largest library

The most-recent revision says that the reason Guiness states the the BL is smaller than the LOC is the length of the shelves. I find this highly doubtful and we aren't supposed to make assumptions in our articles. (See WP:NPOV.) Further, the introduction omits the very-important fact that the BL has less books. Why someone wouldn't think that this is important is baffling to me. In fact, the number of books, in my opinion, is the most important statistic of all. Thus, I'm adding it back in and reworking the intro again.--HQCentral 10:43, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

On the page about the Library of Congress it says "The Guinness Book of World Records currently lists the Library of Congress as the "Largest Library" [2]. This apparently is based on the shelf space the collection occupies; the Library of Congress states that its collection fills about 530 miles (850 km),[3] while the British Library, which uses the metric system, reports about 625 km (or 388 miles) of shelves[4] On the other hand, the Library of Congress holds about 130 million items,[5] as against approximately 150 million items for the British Library.[6]". This is where my information comes from regarding the dispute - it is not an 'assumption' and contradicts the idea the British Library has "less books". The sources also show different ways of defining a 'book'.--81.1.115.179
Come to think of it, you're right. The World Book article says "30 million books, pamphlets, and other printed materials" rather than "30 million books." So, I've changed it back to your version. My mistake.--HQCentral 12:37, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
Thanks - glad we've cleared that up.--81.1.115.179

[edit] Incorporation of some photos

I found some recent photos about the British Library (licensed under cc:by 2.5) we could incorporate in this article. --phil 18:48, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] British Library Lending Division - at Boston Spa

Deserves a mention... Anyone? Rich Farmbrough 22:53 28 June 2006 (GMT).

[edit] Image of Zacarias Moussaoui card

The Image:MN00626-1A.jpg showing Zacarias Moussaoui's library card is really of no relevance to the British Library and should be removed. Did Zacarias Moussaoui and his colleagues plan acts of terrorism in the British Library? No. Did Zacarias Moussaoui use the British Library to read up on bomb making or how to fly an aeroplane? Probably not. He was issued it when on a Masters course in London in 1994 and the card had expired in 1999. Is Zacarias Moussaoui in any way relevant to the history of the British Library? No. Are other readers far more relevant to the history of the BL? Of course - Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Lenin... see British Museum Reading Room for more.

If Zacarias Moussaoui just happens to have been a reader at the British Library and there is no other significance (lets face it, the British Library isn't even mentioned on the Zacarias Moussaoui page), then there is no reason to include the image here. -- Solipsist 16:12, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Legal deposit status

We claim here legal deposit status came from the 1911 Act - it was certainly enshrined in that Act, but I'm looking at a summary of the Copyright Act 1842, and it certainly seems to be in force there. Hmm. Shimgray | talk | 13:08, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

I can't find the source, but I remember the idea dating back even to the 16th century, so you are almost certainly correct. DGtal 08:29, 2 October 2007 (UTC)
The origin in the UK seems to be an agreement between the Stationers and Bodley himself, which later got broadened and made statutory at a later date. Time for more digging... Shimgray | talk | 19:02, 3 October 2007 (UTC)