What is British Library?
[[Image:BritishLibraryInterior02.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Interior of the British Library]] '''The British Library''' (BL) is the national library of the [[United Kingdom]]. It is on the north side of Euston Road in St Pancras, London, between Euston railway station and St Pancras railway station. The Library is a public [[institution]] and is one of the world's largest research libraries. Since 2000 the Chief Executive of the British Library has been Lynne Brindley. The British Library contains over 170 million items in every language that is known. It has around 25 million books, more than any other library. It has manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC. There are books, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings and much more.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9016525 |title=Encyclopædia Britannica Article: British Library |access-date=2010-02-07 |archive-date=2007-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215110553/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9016525 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The British Library, by the law of the United Kingdom, receives copies of every book that is published in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including all foreign books that are sold in the UK. It also buys many books which are only published outside Britain and Ireland. The British Library adds about three million items to its collection every year. The British Library has about 388 miles (625&nbsp;km) of shelves.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/about/didyou.html |title=The British Library: About us: Did you know? |access-date=2010-02-07 |archive-date=2007-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012022700/http://www.bl.uk/about/didyou.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==History== The British Library, before it got its present name, started out as a group of collections made by several people in the 18th century and then given as part of a national library. The collectors