§ 48. Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made with the new National Reference Library of Science and Invention on the South Bank; and what arrangements have been made to use this library as the nucleus for a national reference library for scientific information storage and retrieval using computers and microfilm techniques.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsThe Patent Office Library was transferred from the Board of Trade to the British Museum on 1st April to form, with the Museum's own collection of scientific literature, the nucleus of the National Reference Library of Science and Invention. Temporary accommodation in London has been found for that part of the total collection which cannot be housed in the existing Patent Office building and the Ministry of Public Building and Works is negotiating a site for a permanent building. The Library will offer its users in information retrieval service, but it is too early to say what part the Library will play in the mechanisation of storage end retrieval activities.