History of the BMA library
26 November 2000
- Reading room in the Strand
- The move into BMA House
- Reaching beyond London
- A national information service
- The new library
Reading room in the Strand
The Library was founded at the instigation of Ernest Hart, Editor of the BMJ, when the BMA first acquired its own premises opposite Charing Cross Station, in the Strand. From the outset, the periodicals collection was founded on a basis of exchange agreements between the BMJ and the other leading medical journals. The new Library also benefited from the generosity of individual members, particularly in establishing from scratch a worthwhile collection of monographs.
By the time that Spencer Honeyman succeeded Hart as BMA Librarian in 1896, the BMA was home to one of London's foremost and busiest medical libraries. Honeyman had worked as Hart's assistant from the earliest days and was to serve as Librarian for 29 years. At first, the Library was lodged in the Council rooms, which could only be used by the Library when Council and committees were not in session. In 1907, the BMA acquired adjoining premises and, following the subsequent rebuilding, the Library took possession of its first dedicated accommodation‚ a reading room and a storeroom.
For almost the whole of Honeyman's tenure, the collections were available only for consultation within the Library. Contemporary photographs depict a crowded environment, with the preponderance of relatively young men suggesting that then, as now, study for postgraduate examinations was a common concern amongst BMA library visitors.
The move into BMA House
The 1920s was a decade of upheaval and change, starting in 1925 when the BMA moved to its present location in Tavistock Square. The Library was briefly housed in what is now the Hastings Room. The more long-term accommodation in the North Wing was known as the Hastings Hall and mirrored the Council Chamber in being a single space occupying basement and ground levels. The third major change in four years occurred in 1929 when a new ground-level floor was laid, splitting the Library into a basement store and ground-floor reading room, an arrangement that was to last for eighteen years.
Reaching beyond London
While coping with the problems of such a nomadic existence, the Library was also introducing the first substantial change in its services by transforming itself from a reference into a lending library. Loans of books were first introduced in 1922, and for the first time made the collection readily accessible to members living outside London.
On Spencer Honeyman's retirement in 1929, T J Shields was recruited as Librarian from the Royal Society of Medicine. With a stable and expert staff, Shields' thirty years in post was a period in which the BMA library became universally recognised as one of the major medical libraries in Europe.
In 1947, the Library moved again, this time to the Garden Court Wing of BMA House, but the more important changes were operational rather than geographic. Two important innovations from this time emphasised the Library's increasingly outward-looking, countrywide attitude. An inter-library loan service (using the National Central Library, now part of the British Library) offered members an infinitely wider range of resources than any single library collection could encompass. Shields also introduced a service by which members could request a list of recent references on a particular topic.
Both new services reflected the proliferation of medical publishing that was later to be known as the information explosion. It was no longer possible for individuals or even libraries to cope alone with the volume of new material appearing in print. The complex lending network and the computer-based literature searching, important components of the Library's current services, are part of the legacy of Shields and his staff.
A national information service
In 1960, T J Shields retired, and his successor, F M Sutherland, was the first professionally qualified librarian to work at the BMA library. During the next two decades, the number of medical periodical articles increased exponentially. The need to keep in touch was more acute than ever before, and the difficulty of doing so increased by the square of the number of periodicals published. The role of the BMA library also underwent a significant change. It became much more consciously an information service operating at a national level, supporting members' increasing need for information and the requirements of an increasingly important network of Postgraduate Medical Centres.
In 1965, at the request of a Ministry of Health increasingly concerned with the need for effective information services, the Library established an Institutional Membership scheme under which NHS medical libraries could receive directly the same level of service previously available to them via a sponsoring BMA member.
The BMA embraced this scheme with enthusiasm. It was a good thing in itself and was a cost-effective way of increasing the use made of the collection. There are now over 750 Institutional Members, accounting for over 60% of incoming enquiries. The scheme allows out-of-London members to enjoy the level of service provided by the BMA library combined with the face-to-face personal service of their local hospital or PGMC library.
As, during the late 1960s and early 70s, the computer became an important element in controlling and accessing periodical literature, the Library introduced search services based on computer databases - over 1,500 were carried out in 1991.
Even more far-reaching for Library operations, members could now order photocopies of journal articles, subject to UK copyright legislation. An immediate success, it is now by far the Library's largest undertaking, with 33,000 citations supplied in 1991.
The new library
F J Sutherland retired in 1981 and was succeeded by his deputy of 10 years, Derek Wright, whose tenure featured another relocation‚ this time to the magnificent Lutyens Great Hall which was painstakingly restored to its original glory. The new Reading Room was opened in 1986 by the Princess of Wales. An additional, high-capacity basement store was equipped for less heavily used stock. The end of the 1980s saw a wholehearted embracing of computer systems. The Library's catalogue was computerised and word-processing and compact disc workstations were installed for members' use.
In 1988, Derek Wright was succeeded by Tony McSeán, previously with the British Library and only the sixth BMA Librarian in 105 years. In 1989, the Library absorbed the BMA Film and Video Library, and took over responsibility for organising the annual BMA Film and Video Competition.
During a period in history in which medicine itself and medical librarianship have undergone fundamental changes, the BMA library's underlying continuity in outlook and services is perhaps more remarkable than the more obvious changes. It still exists to deliver to BMA members the fastest and most comprehensive medical information service that current technology allows. Collections are focused on helping working doctors and surgeons provide the best possible care for their patients; and the links with the BMJ are as close as ever - with the collections underpinned by exchange arrangements and review copies. Journal staff in turn are the heaviest users of library services.