Our visit started with a friendly
welcome from BL staff members, Adrian Shindler (Humanities Reference
Specialist) and Kelvin Eli (Collection Storage Manager). Upon receiving our
visitor passes in the Front Hall, we were taken down to one of the underground
basements to observe how the Library goes about storing its printed materials.
The space is vast and contains rows and rows of open shelving used to store items
in high demand, while rolling-stacks are used to store items in slightly less demand.
The basements are all temperature and
humidity controlled environments, so materials stand a much better chance of
being preserved for the benefit of future generations. The basements also run
in close proximity to the Victoria line (London Underground), and the rumble of
the tube trains can be heard on a frequent basis!
Inside the Operations Room, staff
constantly receive new requests for materials, which they must pick and scan before
sending up to the Reading Rooms. To this end, staff rely on a network of
conveyor belts to transport materials from one part of the building to another.
Kelvin drew our attention to the fact the Library takes anything between 1100
and 1300 requests per day. Overall, it struck me very much as a system comparable
to a modern warehouse setting, compounded by the efficiency with which the
whole operation was carried out – registered BL readers will know the Library
sets a 70 minute deadline for the majority of requests to be processed.
During the tour we walked past multiple
trolleys filled with early printed books. These, we were told, were being sent across
to Germany to be digitized as part of the BL’s joint project with Google Books.
According to Kelvin, approximately ten thousand out-of-copyright books are sent
to Google every month. We also spent time in the Library’s sound collections, which
featured all sorts of recordings available through an impressive array of different
formats: 19th century wax cylinders, acetate discs, oversized LPs,
cassettes, CDs, MiniDiscs, and so forth. Similarly, we spotted film reels,
Betamax, VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray formats for audio-visual recordings related to
drama, poetry, and literature in performance, as well as the moving image in
general.
After the tour concluded, we were
introduced to Hedley Sutton (Asia & Africa Reference Team Leader), who
presented half a dozen or so highlights chosen from the Asia & Africa Collections.
Firstly, we looked at an incunable with contemporary world map illustrations produced
just before the discovery of the Americas. Elsewhere, we glanced through a 19th
century Indian textiles catalogue; an 18th century East India
Company ship’s log; an early printed book devoted to the legendary Christian
King, Prester John; and a 20th century colonial officer’s ‘recreational
guide’, entitled The Hoghunters Annual.
The presentation was extremely interesting and demonstrated the research
potential to be gained not just in rare books, but all kinds of ephemera too.
The final part of the afternoon
was spent inside the Asia & Africa Reading Room, which fits around ninety
people in total, and is considered one of the more pleasant spaces to work,
mainly due to the selection of portraiture paintings on display. Many thanks to
Adrian, Kelvin, and Hedley for taking the time to show us around the Library
and for their erudite responses to our questioning.