British Library

People studying in the British Library

The Stacks of Rare Books behind glass

The entrance to the British Library

As I understand it the Library of Congress gets a copy of most things published in the U.S. and so while it is one of the most important libraries in American it does not have a copy of everything. By law anything published in the UK must submit at least one copy to the British Library and so they have everything published in the UK. In addition it is a really incredibly, clean airy modern building with tons of rare books and a museum. The British Library is currently one of the most important libraries in the world. I was stunned to see things like an early copy of the Magna Carta and the original pages on which John Lennon composed the song yesterday. Even though it is one of the Beatles most popular songs it has always been one of my favourite.