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In this highly-illustrated account, Nicolas Barker reveals the history of the British Library's treasure house of books and manuscripts. The Library's holdings cover collections spanning almost three millennia, from the establishment of the British Museum, which brought together the libraries of Sir Hans Sloane, Sir Robert Cotton and Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford, to the foundation of the British Library in 1973 and to some outstanding acquisitions of the present day.
First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.
An engaging study of a great national institution. Essays explore the changing roles of museums and the perceived public role of a museum of science and technology. Illuminates the ways in which we think about the collecting and display of objects and the often difficult relations between the state, business and industry, and museum funding.
The conservation of cultural artefacts, such as buildings, works of art and books presents a fascinating, rich and diverse range of scientific challenges, and the UK has a high reputation in the field, based in large part on past achievements. However, the Committee's report finds that our national standing is now under threat as the sector is fragmented and under-valued, and the DCMS has completely failed to grasp the threat to heritage science, and thus to conservation. The Department's emphasis on widening public access to our cultural heritage is a laudable objective, but this policy needs to be balanced by effective conservation, based on sound science, if we are to leave a sustainable cultural heritage for the benefit of future generations. The Committee also calls on the heritage sector to come together in developing a broad-based national strategy for heritage science, to be championed at departmental level by the newly appointed DCMS Chief Scientific Adviser, and co-ordinated administratively by English Heritage, drawing on input from all bodies active in the sector including those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.