British Library Reference Division

The British Museum library was long housed in the main building of the British Museum, in Bloomsbury, London. The museum (with its library) was founded in 1753 on the basis of the collections of Sir Hans Sloane; Edward and Robert Harley, earls of Oxford; and Sir…

…1973, was reorganized as the British Library Reference Division. The British Library Lending Division was formed from the amalgamation of two previously existing libraries: the National Central Library, which had been the centre for interlibrary lending since 1927 and which had a collection of some 400,000 books and periodicals, mainly…