British Library

We started off the day by heading to King's Cross and posing at Platform 9 3/4 to celebrate our love of Harry Potter.

We were taken through the British Library and given a tour by Heather Morley. She informed us that it was opened in 1998 after being removed from the British Museum Reading Room where it was housed from 1857. The maps in their collection are second only to the Library of Congress. They receive 8,000 publications every day as everything published in the United Kingdom must be collected. The basement goes down 75 feet to the tube level but only half of the collections are stored on-site. The Northern line of the tube runs through the middle of the storage shelves and therefore they had to be reinforced to withstand the vibrations. There are a total of 200 million books in the collection which can be accessed using the online catalog.

In order to use the facilities you have to register for a reader pass and prove a need to see specific materials. You have to demonstrate that you have looked at other venues and were unable to find the materials anywhere else. The books are sent throughout the library using a trolley system that moves within the walls. During all the time this system has been in use no materials have been lost. They have their own cataloging system which is organized based on size not subject. The library has a tri-fold purpose: collect, conserve, and record the existence of materials.

Many famous people use the library for research. Heather said that Johnny Depp has used the oral recordings to practice his English accents for roles.

Many rare items are kept in the British Library. They have everything from the Magna Carta, original lyrics written by the Beatles, and many variations of Alice in Wonderland. I learned that there have been several different versions of Alice in Wonderland and each version has different illustrations which were amazing such as Ralph Steadman and Mervyn Peake.