British Library (Hansard, 4 July 1988)

§ 43. Mr. Butler
To ask the Minister for the Arts how much Government funding he now intends to give to the British Library project in the next three years.

§ Mr. Luce
The funding authorised for 1988–89 is £33.1 million.
Planned funding for 1989–90 and 1990–91 is £41.5 million and £46.2million respectively.

§ 45. Mr. Simon Coombs
To ask the Minister for the Arts what assessment he has made of the benefits arising from the new British Library complex at St. Pancras when it is fully operational.

§ Mr. Luce
The new building at St. Pancras will bring together under one roof the majority of the British Library's London-based reference collections which now occupy 19 buildings in London. The housing of these priceless collections in a controlled, pollution-free environment for the first time will bring immense benefits in respect of their conservation. It will also bring considerable advantages for scholars who will be able to study different subjects in one building, and will benefit from much quicker delivery systems and modern technological aids. The new building should also enable the Library's management to operate more efficiently, and there will be other savings following the vacation of existing premises.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts what has been the total cost to date of automation of the British Library and Copyright Agency.

§ Mr. Luce
The total cost of automation in the British Library from 1981–82 to 1987–88 inclusive was £29.7 459W million. Figures for earlier years are not available. The copyright agency is not the responsibility of the British Library.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts what has been the total cost of development of, and the return on investment on, the British Library digital rare book copier compatible with Apollo group IV facsimile; and what is the remit for this development.

§ Mr. Luce
I am informed that the digital book copier is not compatible with group IV facsimile. The development of a group III compatible copier by external contractors cost £187,000. Six machines were produced for assessment and use. No further development is planned. The remit for this research and development project was to satisfy the special needs of the British Library and other research libraries for copying equipment which could not be met by commercially available products at that time.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts what were the total development costs and return on investment in the British Library archivist book copier; and what was the remit for this development.

§ Mr. Luce
The development cost of the archivist book copier was £60,000. Royalties from commercial sales so far total £14,000 and sales are expected to continue for several years. The remit for this development was to satisfy the need for a copier which would minimise damage to the books.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts how much new open access accommodation has been provided for British Library readers at Holborn since 1972; and at what cost.

§ Mr. Luce
An extension to the reading room area of the lower ground floor at Holborn yielded an additional 400 linear feet of shelving and some additional seating at a cost of approximately £19,000 for 1984–85. Approximately 135 linear feet of open access shelving have been added by ad hoc reorganisation since 1985 at negligible cost.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts what has been the total cost to date of the first phase of the British Library, corn merchant's store conversion at Boston Spa.

§ Mr. Luce
The cost of the corn merchant's store conversion was £1.7 million for building and £609,500 for shelving (both including VAT).

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts how much, and what proportion, of the increase since the original estimate for the costs of the British Library's St. Pancras site buildings is attributable to(a) changes in value added tax regulations and (b) inflation.

§ Mr. Luce
The proportion and value of the increase (since the original estimate in 1979) for the stage under construction of the new British Library building attributable to(a) changes in VAT regulations is 3 per cent. of £3.82 million; and (b) inflation is 67 per cent. or £84.6 million.
The remainder of the difference between the two estimates is mainly in respect of design changes and the need to build in a higher risk contingency.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts what assessment he has made of the extent to which the British460W Library's periodical collections meet the minimum documentation rule 34 of the patent co-operation treaty regulations.

§ Mr. Luce
The science reference and information service of the British Library takes all the periodicals in the list published in the "World International Patents Organisation Handbook on Patents Information and Technology" as updated to October 1987.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts if he will itemise the total investment by the British Library in compact disc with read only memory technology.

§ Mr. Luce
The British Library has spent approximately £108,000 on CD-ROM equipment.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts why details of open access provisions to the science arid technology holdings in the new British Library have not been made publicly available.

§ Mr. Luce
The final extent of open access provision for the science reference and information service (SRIS) in the British Library's new building will depend upon ministerial decisions about further construction. This is the subject of a feasibility study currently being undertaken.
Open access provision for the SRIS in the stage which has been authorised and is currently under construction will he 13 km of shelving and 178 reader seats.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts when the British Library's plans for business information will be published; and under what authority this collection has been formed.

§ Mr. Luce
The British Library's plans for business information will be published as part of the science reference and information service overall information plan in the context of the library's new strategic plan which is due for publication in 1989. General authority for the formation of the collection lies in clause 1(2) of the British Library Act which requires the board to manage the library as a national centre for reference, study, and bibliographical and other information services. Specific authority is derived from the recommendations of a working party on business information in 1980. Its membership comprised mainly external experts in the business field and the report was entitled "Business Information: the Role of the British Library". A revised edition was published by the British Library in 1982.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts if he will take steps to ensure that the British Library provide; date-stamped printed publications and abstracts of journals.

§ Mr. Luce
Publications (or in the case of patent specifications, registers) are stamped with the date of shelving at the science reference and information service (SRIS) as a service for those who need to be aware of the earliest dates of availability upholdable in courts of law. The service is particularly used in connection with novelty of patent applications. All journals including abstract journals received by the SRIS are date stamped and are generally shelved within 24 hours.