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| Pages | 24-33 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb026291 |
| Published date | 01 January 1961 |
| Date | 01 January 1961 |
| Author | MAYSIE WEBB |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
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MAYSIE WEBB, B.SC. A.L.A.
Head of the Patent
Office
Library
TO PRACTISING librarians and information scientists the Patent Office
Library needs no introduction. Nor, of course, do I yet claim more com-
petence than the next to give its history, offer its credentials, and expound
its motives. It
seems,
however, useful to begin by emphasizing three main
aspects of its make-up which seem to me to display the essence of its exist-
ence and point the way to its future.
The Patent Office Library, despite its name, is not a government depart-
mental
library.
It
lives
in and
is
administered by the Patent Office, but it has
always been open to the public and, indeed, has been developed over the
last hundred years or
so
with their needs in mind. There is a statutory obli-
gation to provide for public inspection copies of
all
British patents granted,
and various dicta could be quoted on the terms of reference and original
conception of the library. Underlying all of them one can, however, detect
the broader principle that in an economy increasingly geared to science and
technology it
is
prudent to make freely available
a
store of such knowledge,
thus providing the scientist with his raw material, stimulating invention,
and facilitating the work of the technical community in
general.
Today this
is recognized as common sense; a hundred years ago it was boldly en-
lightened.
The same liberal outlook which brought the library into being
is
reflected
in the open-access facilities. The aim has always been to have the whole
stock arrayed and freely accessible to the readers, from whom the minimal
formality of signing the visitors' book in the entrance hall
is
demanded. As
the stock has grown and the inevitable space difficulties have arisen, much
material
has
had to be relegated to store, forcing a departure from the basic
system. But the broad principle remains, and no material
is
withheld from
the public reading room except for
the
very good reason that other material
has a more valid claim to the public's attention.
The third introductory point I wish to make
is a
brief
one,
but it
is
proper
to mention the subject field we have hitherto aimed to cover. In the main
we are concerned with the field of invention. This means that wide cover-
age is given to the following subjects (in UDC order): scientific research
methods, scientific and technical dictionaries, industrial property and in-
tellectual property, physics, chemistry, crystallography and mineralogy,
public health, engineering, printing and book manufacture, chemical tech-
nology, industries and manufactures, photographic techniques. Partial
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