The Science Reading Rooms of the British Library: The User Community and Patterns of Use

Abstract

When the British Library in London moves into its new building at St Pancras the reference collections for science, business and patents in the Science Reference and Information Service (SRIS), at present housed in three locations, will be united in a single reading room complex. Much information of value for planning future services and arrangement of stock has been obtained over the years by surveys of users and usage, most recently at the end of 1993. A variety of survey methods was employed. The largest category of users consists of students, whose proportion rose from 28% in 1983 to 40% in 1993, while the patent community fell proportionately from 23% to 13% over the same period. Nearly all users were based in the UK, 92% of them in London and the South-East; but 22% were carrying out work for clients, 38% of whom were based in London, 26% in the rest of the UK and 36% abroad. Patent searchers spent nearly twice as much time in the reading rooms as other readers. English language periodicals received most use (used by 44% of users), but monographs (34%) and foreign language periodicals (7%) also received substantial use. The average user consulted 24 items per visit, and the average number of enquiries per day was 561. These and other findings are being used in planning aspects such as reader admissions procedures, arrangement of open access stock and staffing rotas, to ensure that the SRIS reading rooms in the new building will fulfil the needs of users.