Turning the pages...

Amidst the many centuries-old marvels that the city of London has to offer, I would certainly consider the British Library one of London's marvels for the present day. Visually, even from just the outside, the library is an impressive sight, and although the architectural style is modern, it has enough "Old World" touches to make a very open, bright, and inviting place for visitors.

The British Library is obviously first and foremost a library, with literally millions of documents and books in print and other formats contained in its catalog. However, the library also has several galleries of well-preserved, original historical manuscripts that are open for public viewing. As I made my way through one of these galleries I naturally felt like I was in a museum, although the member of the library staff who was giving us the tour had stated that on rare occasions, even items from these gallery collections are considered "working" and have been utilized by individuals for research.

As with the various museums that our class has visited around London, I came away from the British Library with a similar feeling of amazement that the city made such a worthy investment over the years to collect, preserve, and give ready access to such a vast collection of knowledge to the general public. The British Library truly is one of the marvels of London!