1. Libraries in Britain today  An introduction to sectors, organizations, and services in the United Kingdom

2. British Library, St. Pancras

3. Principal UK library sectors: national libraries public libraries academic libraries school libraries special libraries libraries of learned societies independent libraries company and commercial libraries media libraries government libraries

4. National Library of Scotland

5. National libraries: the British Library: formed in 1973 by the merger of the British Museum Library, the National Lending Library, the Science Reference Library and other institutions moved to its current site in 1993 the BL is one of the largest research libraries in the world much of its content is acquired through legal deposit but it also collects extensively scholarly non-British material

6. British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa

7. British Library facts and figures:

8. The British Library Newspaper Library, Colindale

9. Some recent trends at the British Library: the role of the national library as a library of record how far should the Library attempt to preserve digital resources, and how should that be done issues of space and retention digitization programmes and raising awareness how the Library should be used improving access to a wider readership family history

10. Manchester Public Library

11. Public libraries: public libraries are dealt with by the DCMS, which also maintains the British Library Ed Vaizey is the minister responsible there are 3,066 public libraries and 428 mobile libraries in England, provided by 149 library authorities throughout the system there are 81 million books and 7 million AV items, and in 2006/07 296 million items were loaned about 60% of adults hold a library ticket a major initiative in recent years has been the development of the People’s Network to provide IT facilities in local libraries

12. The Forum, Norwich

13. Some influential public library reports: Framework for the future (DCMS, 2003): http://culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Publications/archive_2003/framework_future.htm http://culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Publications/archive_2003/framework_future.htm Better public libraries (Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment/Re:source, 2003) http://www.mla.gov/resources/assets/I/id874rep_pdf_5334.pdf http://www.mla.gov/resources/assets/I/id874rep_pdf_5334.pdf Library buildings survey: final report (MLA, 2006) http://www.mla.gov/resources/assets/L/librarybuildings_10218.pdf http://www.mla.gov/resources/assets/L/librarybuildings_10218.pdf Who’s in charge? (Libri report by Tim Coates, 2004) http://www.rwevans.co.uk/libri/downloads.htm http://www.rwevans.co.uk/libri/downloads.htm Professional standards of service (CILIP report by Patrick Conway, 2008) http://cilip.org.uk/http://cilip.org.uk/ Empower, inform, enrich : the modernisation review of public libraries (launched in 2009) http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/consultations/6488.aspx http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/consultations/6488.aspx

14. Jubilee Library, Brighton

15. Some important sites and organizations for public libraries: DCMS libraries pages http://culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Libraries http://culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Libraries People’s network http://peoplesnetwork.gov.ukhttp://peoplesnetwork.gov.uk The UK Public Libraries page: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940/weblibs.html http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940/weblibs.html What’s in London’s libraries: http://www.londonlibraries.org.uk/will http://www.londonlibraries.org.uk/will Public Lending Right http://www.plr.uk.comhttp://www.plr.uk.com

17. Recent concerns in public libraries: falling numbers due to changes in reading habits and the effect of online booksellers (readers buy far more books than in the past) low status of libraries in some authorities, with poor funding and lack of qualified staff lack of LIS knowledge and background of senior managers a need to widen the agenda for local libraries beyond a basic lending service a trend towards a ‘bookshop’ culture in public libraries with an emphasis on informality, self-service and incorporation of leisure services social inclusion the Big Society family history

18. Peckham Library (London Borough of Southwark)

19. Academic libraries: academic libraries are those which serve the higher and further education community i.e. universities and colleges of further and higher education, but not school libraries funding comes principally from the Higher Education Funding Council, but individual institutions have control over budgets library spend is one of the factors used in compiling university league tables strategic planning, and some research funding, is provided by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) http://www.jisc.ac.uk http://www.jisc.ac.uk JISC also has a role in the organization of networked services

20. Radcliffe Camera, Bodleian Library, Oxford

21. Academic libraries and electronic resources 1: because of their high levels of consumption of scholarly information, academic libraries are at the forefront in managing changes in publishing and dissemination changes in formats, from print  physical electronic media  online, have greatly affected resource management not only technical considerations, but questions of access, networking, purchasing, and sharing materials are now complex for many libraries academic libraries now commonly form consortia to deal with these problems one effect is that the cost of materials is usually very much cheaper for the academic sector

22. University Library, Cambridge

23. Academic libraries and electronic resources 2: academic institutions are also responsible for many electronic resources in the public domain these may occur as the result of digitization projects for special collections or by the creation of new digital resources many libraries host subject specific portals or digital libraries the Research Councils have been responsible for funding large numbers of such ventures in recent years a major centrally funded resource has been Intute http://www.intute.ac.uk which provides free-to-access, quality controlled ‘collections’ of digital material, aimed at the UK HE & FE communities (it will be maintained for the next academic year). http://www.intute.ac.uk

24. University of London Library, Senate House

25. Concerns for academic libraries today: the vast expansion in scholarly publishing in recent years the vast expansion in student numbers less good provision in many newer institutions changes in reader expectations (students buy far fewer books than in the past) and reader behaviour problems of storage and retention, particularly of older material the migration from print to electronic resources development of different models of scholarly publishing problems of networking, access, sharing, funding of digital material information literacy and the changing role of the librarian

26. The Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge

27. Special libraries: special libraries encompass a very broad range of library types company, commercial, and industrial libraries private (independent) libraries libraries of learned societies and institutions research libraries media libraries government libraries gallery and museum libraries libraries of charities cathedral libraries school libraries some of these categories overlap

28. Saltire Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University

29. Subject related sectors: some sectors have substantial numbers of libraries with related professional organizations these groups can assume responsibility for good practice, guidelines, standards and tools and systems as well as providing networking opportunities art libraries music libraries law libraries health libraries religious and philosophical libraries

30. Information Commons, Sheffield University

31. Some large format related sectors: map libraries film libraries and sound archives picture libraries rare book and manuscript collections

32. Seeley History Library, Cambridge

33. Special library organizations and associations: ABTAPL Association of British Theological & Philosophical Libraries ARLIS Art Libraries Society BIALL British & Irish Association of Law Librarians IAML International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres Special Libraries Association

34. Donaldson Library, University College London

35. Concerns for special libraries: because of the diversity of special libraries it is more difficult to identify pervasive trends finance may be a major issue for small specialized libraries the cost of electronic resources, software and hardware is more expensive than the equivalent for print digitization projects are quite common in these collections using the web to raise awareness and engage with readers is often the way forward (maintaining a portal style website rather than just an online catalogue) the balance between promoting the library and preserving materials needs to be carefully considered vandalism and theft affect some collections family history

36. Library, University of Coventry

37. Cathedral libraries: Hereford and Westminster Abbey

38. The professional bodies: overarching organizations for the profession responsible for overseeing qualifications, training,and continuing professional development provide guidelines and set standards for good practice act as advocates and lobbyists for their members and for libraries in general CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals – formed by the merger of the Library Association and the Institute of Information Scientists Aslib: the Association for Information Management – originally the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux

39. The London Library

40. Other general library and information organizations and associations : UKOLN (UK Office for Library Networking) LISU: Library & Information Statistics Unit research funding organizations tend to be academic (e.g. JISC) but the EU specifically funds library and information research projects the research councils (particularly AHRC) have funded many digitization projects London Libraries Development Agency Library Campaign Libraries for Life for Londoners

41. National Art Library Victoria and Albert Museum

42. Some trends affecting libraries and information services more generally: the huge increase in the amount of information available the principle of freedom of access to information rapidly evolving formats and technical know-how the availability of information on the web easy dissemination and not-so-easy access issues of provenance and reliability in unmanaged environments how to manage information and who is responsible the development of web 2.0 information literacy and user behaviour changes in library design and services the role of the LIS professional as conservator, manager, mediator, instructor and technical expert family history

43. Lambeth Palace Library