Wednesday 18 July 2007

THE BRITISH LIBRARY AND MY INTERVIEW - Thursday, July 12

Reflecting...
The British Library is gorgeous, impressive, and massive -- on the inside. The exterior does not appeal to me, not that that matters. :) It is designed to resemble a ship, which does nothing for me. However, once I entered, I certainly did not care what the exterior looked like. In the center of the first floor is the King’s Library, encased in glass, containing some 90,000 items donated by King George III, aka Mad George.It’s also totally impressive to think that one is standing on top of the British Library collection which is stored underneath the front piazza and the building itself. Below sea level, this area is equipped with tanks and pumps which pump surrounding water out to the River Thames.

I was also impressed that the target (which is usually met) for a person to obtain a reader’s card is 20 minutes, which includes a rather thorough interview. The target is normally met; a classmate reported he received his in about 15 minutes. Being accustomed to seeing delays at our local circulation desk makes me think that the British are quite efficient – not that it normally takes 20 minutes to get a card at our library – but I am afraid that it COULD -- and supposedly we don't have to do a thorough interview at this point.

I also like that the building was designed to last 300 years. Hmm, what might we be learn here?

The Library Itself
The British Library began operation in 1973 with the merging of the library from the British Museum with collections of other institutions. The collection has over 13 million books and numerous other holdings. A person 18 of older, with proper id, may obtain a reader’s card after an interview regarding the person's research needs. After he has searched the catalog which is online, he may request the needed item and can expect to have it in hand soon if it is on site. H must know what he wants and must use it in the reading room. This is not a lending library.

Amazingly, the books are arranged according to size in order to maximize usage of space. and are listed on a grid reference which provides the location.

The current special exhibition is Sacred, which displays numerous important books of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.

Standing exhibits include fascinating items from the Magna Carta to Beatles manuscripts.

Security is quite tight here; other than the airport, it is the only place I have been searched (only my bag here).

I was not able to view the exhibits as I had an interview for my research paper. I hope to be able to return to see at least a little more of the treasures here.

My Interview
For my research project, I had an afternoon long visit with a young guru of young adult services in the UK, Matthew Imrie. Although Matthew’s title is lending librarian at this point, his passion is young adult services and he is being allowed to develop that at his present location. We met at on the piazza at the British Library, had lunch and coffee, lots of talk, and then rode the big red double decker bus to his library some distance a way. As he described it, it is in a somewhat deprived area, but not as deprived as his previous one. It is in a shopping mall which reminded me slightly of Baton Rouge’s Bon Marche Mall at the time of its decline, except it was busy.

His colleagues and supervisors were most gracious, as were the members of his Teen Reading Group which I met. They wanted to know if I was from Texas; when I told them Louisiana, they wanted to know if I knew Brittney Spears. Oh so sadly, :):) I said no, and asked if they liked her. They kind of mumbled negatively and said “no, she changed.”

Matthew was wonderful and escorted me all the way back to Waterloo Station which is by my dorm. It was a great afternoon and it's amazing how much Matthew and I have in common and what we are each doing on our side of the pond in spite of him being a 31 yr old young man from South Africa, and I being Nancy. :)

He was most helpful and we hope to keep in touch. Maybe we can do something internationally with our teens! He will email me photos which I will post later.

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