British Museum's Paul Hamlyn Library

This library was the first public library in Britain. It was founded in 1753 by the Irishman, Paul Hamlyn, and has gone through many changes and renovations over the years. Charles Hoare, our library guide, said that since his supervisor started working there 20 years ago they have moved 14 times! The British Museum was the first to have electrical lighting as they had previously been using only natural light (the gas lamps were thought to be too dangerous for the books). Materials in the Paul Hamlyn Library are available to members of the public as well as to staff members.

The reference library, or central library, is located in the long room which was built in 1860 as storage for the overage which would not fit in the main section of the library. To enter the space we went through a false door which looked like books and made me feel like I was in an old Batman episode. The primary focus is collecting and there are 25,000 volumes in the reference library. These are cataloged using a homegrown classification scheme instead of Dewey Decimal Classification. They have most of their materials cataloged using the electronic database but each department has its own archive and not all of them have input online.

The library has hosted many famous readers including Charles Dickens, Karl Marx, and Vladimir Lenin. In 1973 the library and the museum were separated and the British Library was created.