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| British Museum Great Court |
This library is open to the public, to all visitors to the Museum. It brings together resources relating to all of the cultures present in the Museum, to support both visitors' and curators' understanding of Museum artefacts. The Library has a significant outreach role: it provides a children's library, school sessions, and lends out resource packs for families. It also houses unique special collections and archival material: Museum guidebooks dating back to 1762, copies of Museum publications and exhibition ephemera, and a poster archive.
The Paul Hamlyn library moved into the famous round Reading Room in the centre of the Museum's main court after the British Library opened in the 1990s. For the last few years it's been moved elsewhere as the Reading Room has been turned over to blockbuster exhibitions. New exhibition space is due to open fairly soon, and it had been planned for the Paul Hamlyn Library to move back in when the exhibitions moved out. With no Library to live in it, one worries about what might happen to the Reading Room in the long term.
There is little concrete information available about this threat. There has been no public statement from the Museum, despite the apparent existence of a 90-day consultation period. Everything I know about this I've heard from the Historic Libraries Forum (who are a great organisation, by the way, and you can be a member for free!). Worryingly, it seems as though the Museum is trying to slip through this closure without many people noticing. No-one seems to know, for example, when the 90-day consultation period actually started!
The HLF is trying to raise awareness of this threat as widely as posisble, and is asking you to write to the Director and Deputy Director of the Museum to express your concern about the loss of the library. Closing the Paul Hamlyn Library would mean: the loss of services to the public, families and schools; the possible break up of a unique collection relating to the Museum and the collection it holds (including unique material), the loss of staff expertise; and an uncertain future for the iconic British Museum Reading Room.
| Neil MacGregor, OM, FSA Director of the British Museum Great Russell Street LONDON WC1B 3DG | Dr Andrew Burnett Deputy Director of the British Museum Great Russell Street LONDON WC1B 3DG |
The Paul Hamlyn Library is a subtle little gem in the British Museum's crown. It gleams rather than glitters. This isn't enough for the powers-that-be. They don't care that the library staff answer questions on every question under the sun, and have a breadth of knowledge about the Museum collections and the literature relating to those collections that is of tremendous value and worth to the museum visitors. Sacrificing the Paul Hamlyn Library is a true example of a society where shallowness and show has replaced quality and integrity. The British Museum will be the poorer for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this excellent post; I know a lot of people share your anger. Your comment on the Guardian website suggesting that the Art Fund prize could be used to keep the library open is also really appreciated, especially since most of the research for History of the World was done there...
ReplyDeleteApparently the Museum management have justified cutting the library by saying that the public don't need books any more as all the information they require is on the internet.
ReplyDeleteIt beggars belief that a cultural organisation of the stature of the British Museum could hold such an arrogant and philistine view.
How sad and shameful that the Museum thinks it is OK to close its well-used public library in favour of keeping its largely inaccessible and little-used private specialist libraries behind the scenes.
It's alright for curators to have books then? It seems it's just the public who are too stupid to appreciate them.
I have visited the Paul Hamlyn library on several occasions and have been impressed by the expertise of the staff. Another loss to those of us who are trying to educate and be educated.
ReplyDeleteGlad that there is a link to your post from comments on the Guaridan article
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jun/15/british-museum-wins-arts-fund-prize
The library is closing on August 12th.
ReplyDeleteThe Hamlyn Library has closed. The future of the collection remains uncertain and 9 staff have been made redundant. It was the best used library at the British Museum by far (average of 350-400 readers a day).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the updates, anonymous. It's horrible news. I'm going to post about this very soon. If anyone else reading wants to know more, here's the Museum's press release on the subject:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/news_and_press/statements/paul_hamlyn_library.aspx
And here's a Museums Association piece about it:
http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/11082011-paul-hamlyn-library-to-shut-on-Friday