ABSTRACT
The British Library not only provides a centralised document supply service, which is extensively used in this country and abroad, but it also offers other services, such as online information retrieval, publishes bibliographies and scholarly works, and runs exhibitions, conferences and seminars. The British Library's collections are an enormous national asset, providing an unparalleled resource for scholarship, research and industry. The British Library is also represented on the Library and Information Services Council which advises the Minister for the Arts on library and information matters, and has through its working parties contributed to the ongoing professional debate on co-operation and interaction. Since 1974 one of the means by which the British Library has ensured the availability of research level material has been through the awarding of grants to other libraries for conservation, cataloguing and improving access to collections of national importance.
