Thursday, July 12, 2007

Yank Conks Head At 9 3/4 Seeks Succor At British Library-July 12


Having recovered from Macbeth overdose, our happy but weary group today took the Tube, London's subway, to Harry-Potter-famous King's Cross train station where Yours Truly went head-on with the bricks of platform 9 3/4. Yours Truly lost. My forehead now sports a nifty brick pattern. Bemused, but chintzy, onlooking Brits and other nationals refused my request for a £5 entertainment fee.

We then walked to the nearby British Library. What a place! It's a new building which, after 14 years of construction, opened in 1998 following a move from the British Museum Library. This four-level reference-only library houses 200 million volumes and is staffed by 2500 people. Each of the eleven reading rooms is connected to a computerized conveyor that delivers requested books from the library's lower levels to the requesting registered reader. It's a cool system. As our tour guide explained, the computer doesn't necessarily pick the shortest route from basement to reader but instead defaults to the quickest route. There are 33,000 possible routes to each reading room! The goal is to get a requested book to a reader in seventeen minutes. To become a registered reader you must complete an online form, be interviewed by library staff, and produce two forms of ID e.g. driver's license, passport. During the interview you explain why you need a registered reader card. Guess what? Yours Truly is a British Library registered reader! (Although my interviewer was a little hesitant when he found out about my Harry Potter 9 3/4 imitation.)

The library uses a cataloging system developed by librarian Sir Anthony Panizi and is the most government funded agency in Great Britain. Like Oxford's Bodleian library, the British Library is a copyright library. Special collections include 4.2 million stamps and the 80,000 volume King's collection encased in a centrally-visible massive glass tower. The Sir John Ritblat Gallery displays the treasures of the British Library including a copy of the Magna Carta. The special exhibition, Sacred, shows visitors beautiful ancient and modern examples of Christian, Judaic, and Islamic books of worship. A portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the earliest complete New Testament, the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus, are the highlights.

Believe or not, Bill Gates has a connection with the British Library. He has provided the library with the software to create the stunning interactive "Turning the Pages" displays found throughout the library.

By the way, pubs are a way of life in England. Fellow library student, Mary, found this great London pub locator website.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Turning the Pages" is absolutely a great tool !! What a way to check out the contecnts of books.