Site: The British Library
One of the world's leading research libraries, with over 170 million items.
In 1753, Dr. Hans Sloane left his extensive collection of books to the British nation. As a consequence, Parliament passed an act to create the British Museum and Library. The British Library automatically receives one copy of almost everything published in the United Kingdom. They also buy books from around the world. The Library receives donations and courtesy copies from researchers. The collection cannot be housed in one building, even with four basement levels, so there is a satellite site in Yorkshire for items that are used less frequently.
The British Library used to be known as the "library of last resort" because they would only allow researchers to use the collection if they could show that they had already looked elsewhere. This policy changed eighteen years ago. Now anyone over eighteen can get a reader card. Materials must be used onsite. Some materials are available for interlibrary loan, in which case they must be used in the local library. Most of the readers are students and academics, as well as a significant amount of people doing geneological research.
The British Library staff consists of approximately 1000 to 1100 employees. The premises is open seven days a week, while the reading rooms are open six days a week. Most of the reading rooms are open in the evenings, Monday to Thursday. The staff have several teams, including Community Engagement, International, Marketing, Security, Conservation, and the Web Archive Team. It is common for staff members to move to different teams, increasing retention.
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