A University Library with a National Function: The British Library of Political and Economic Science and Library Provision for the Social Sciences in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Since its foundation in 1896 the British Library of Political and Economic Science has attempted a double function, to be the library of the London School of Economics and also to act as a quasinational library for the social sciences. These roles have proved to be complementary. The LSE has been better served because of its ambitions for its library. The library has grown to become one of the most substantial collections of social science materials in the world. Its subject catalogue, begun in 1925, became The London Bibliography of the Social Sciences, which has a worldwide coverage of monographic material whether published or ‘grey literature’. Unlike other countries, where such significance has been given legal recognition, this has not occurred for the BLPES and equivalent libraries in the United Kingdom. Funding and other pressures on the British Library may change these arrangements in the future.