British Library
On the 1st of July 1973, the British Library officially came into existence as a distinct entity. This date marked the end of an era where national library functions were scattered across various departments within the British Museum. The new institution absorbed the museum's vast book and manuscript collections while integrating smaller organizations like the National Central Library and the National Lending Library for Science and Technology. Sir Harry Hookway served as the first Chief Executive from 1973 to 1984, guiding the early transition. In 1982, the India Office Library and Records became part of the library's responsibilities, adding significant historical depth to its holdings. By 1983, the National Sound Archive joined the fold, bringing over a million discs and thousands of tapes to the growing collection. These foundation collections included the books and manuscripts of Sir Hans Sloane, who died in 1753 and donated his entire library to the nation. The Harleian Library collection was purchased by the museum trustees for £10,000 before Robert Harley died in 1721. Cotton library, once held by Sir Robert Cotton until 1631, had already been in public possession and housed at Ashburnham House in Westminster. George II later donated the Old Royal Library, and George III added his King's Library between 1763 and 1820.
The British Library officially opened on the 25th of June 1998 when Queen Elizabeth II cut the ribbon on its new home next to St Pancras station. Architect Colin St John Wilson designed the building with his wife MJ Long developing the initial plan that was subsequently built. Before this grand opening, the library stock began moving into the St Pancras building after the Round Reading Room closed on the 25th of October 1997. Dr George Wagner led a hard-fought campaign that successfully overturned plans to demolish seven acres of Bloomsbury streets. Instead, construction happened on Euston Road where the library now stands as a Grade I listed building since the 1st of August 2015. A six-storey glass tower inspired by the Beinecke Library contains the King's Library with 65,000 printed volumes collected by George III. The largest public building constructed in the United Kingdom during the 20th century features large sculptures by Eduardo Paolozzi and Antony Gormley on its piazza. From January 2009 to April 2012, over 200 km of material moved to an Additional Storage Building near Boston Spa in Yorkshire. Construction work on that facility completed in 2013, allowing the newspaper library at Colindale to close on the 8th of November 2013.
In 2005, the British Library launched the UK Web Archive project to collect and preserve websites from across the country. Each time data was collected, staff contacted website owners for permission before archiving their content. On the 5th of April 2013, the library announced a project to archive all sites ending in .uk, which amounted to about 4.8 million sites containing 1 billion web pages. Four storage nodes linked via secure network automatically replicate and repair data in London, Boston Spa, Aberystwyth, and Edinburgh. A complete crawl of every .uk domain has been added annually since 2013 alongside Internet Archive's 1996, 2013 collection. The policy and system were based on France's Bibliothèque nationale de France, which had crawled the .fr domain annually since 2006. On the 28th of October 2023, the entire website went down due to a cyber attack attributed to ransomware group Rhysida. Catalogues and ordering systems became affected, rendering most collections inaccessible to readers for several weeks. By October 2024, many previously inaccessible services had been restored including remote item ordering and online manuscripts. A new library management system launched in late 2025 with increased access to the catalogue.
The British Library operates as a legal deposit library receiving copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Legal deposit traces back to at least 1610 when England established the principle that libraries must receive free copies of published items. The Copyright Act 1911 ensured the British Library and five other libraries received these materials automatically. Under Irish copyright law from 2000, the library receives free copies of every book published there alongside the National Library of Ireland. The Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 extended requirements to electronic documents like CD-ROMs and selected websites. Around three million items are added each year occupying new shelf space according to the 2010/11 Annual Report. The collection includes approximately 14 million books along with substantial holdings dating back to 2000 BC. Sixty percent of total material resides in Yorkshire where low-use items and newspaper collections make up around 70% of holdings. The Document Supply Service holds 87.5 million items including 296,000 international journal titles and 400,000 conference proceedings. Twelve point five million articles in the Document Supply Collection are held electronically for immediate download.
The British Library Sound Archive holds more than a million discs and 185,000 tapes covering recorded sound from over 100 years ago. In 2006, the library launched British Library Sounds making 50,000 recordings available online through their SoundServer. Moving image services launched in October 2012 provide access to nearly a million sound and moving image items onsite. BBC Pilot/Redux mirrors the BBC's archive recording 24/7 national and regional broadcast output since June 2007. Broadcast News has made off-air recordings of daily TV and radio broadcasts from seventeen channels since May 2010. Television & Radio Index for Learning & Teaching covers every UK television and radio broadcast since 2001 with 16 million records growing by a million per year. The Philatelic Collections were established in 1891 with the donation of the Tapling collection and now comprise over 25 major collections. Approximately 80,000 items on 6,000 sheets may be viewed in 1,000 display frames at St Pancras. The Business & IP Centre opened in March 2006 holding comprehensive business and intellectual property material including over 50 million patent specifications dating back to 1855.
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Common questions
When did the British Library officially come into existence?
The British Library officially came into existence on the 1st of July 1973. This date marked the end of an era where national library functions were scattered across various departments within the British Museum.
Who designed the new building for the British Library at St Pancras?
Architect Colin St John Wilson designed the building with his wife MJ Long developing the initial plan that was subsequently built. The structure became a Grade I listed building since the 1st of August 2015.
What happened to the British Library website on the 28th of October 2023?
The entire website went down due to a cyber attack attributed to ransomware group Rhysida. Catalogues and ordering systems became affected, rendering most collections inaccessible to readers for several weeks until services were restored by October 2024.
How many items does the British Library Sound Archive hold?
The British Library Sound Archive holds more than a million discs and 185,000 tapes covering recorded sound from over 100 years ago. Moving image services launched in October 2012 provide access to nearly a million sound and moving image items onsite.
When did the British Library officially open its current home next to St Pancras station?
The British Library officially opened on the 25th of June 1998 when Queen Elizabeth II cut the ribbon on its new home next to St Pancras station. Before this grand opening, the library stock began moving into the St Pancras building after the Round Reading Room closed on the 25th of October 1997.