The building in which the library is housed was opened in 1857. The reading room is surrounded by book stores placed in iron stacks, the origin of the more modern steel stacks; in these are fitted hanging and rolling auxiliary bookcases. The presses inside the reading-room contain upwards of 6o,000 vols. ; to those on the ground floor (20,00o), readers have direct access. The Natural History Museum, South Kensington, a department of the British Museum under separate management, has a library of books on the natural sciences numbering over I 00,000 volumes. Patent Office and other State Libraries.—The finest tech nical library in the country is that of the Patent Office in South ampton buildings, London. The library contains 220,000 volumes. Another special library is the National Art Library, trans ferred to South Kensington in 1856. It contains about 150,00o vols. and 250,00o photographs. For science there is the library of the Science Museum, South Kensington, which was founded in 1857 (I7o,000 vols.). It is devoted to pure and applied science; it maintains, besides its own subject catalogue, an index to scien tific books and periodicals.
The only other State libraries which are open to the public are those of the Board of Education (5o,000 vols.), the Ministry of Agriculture, the Imperial Institute and the Imperial War Museum.
Among the other State libraries in London may be briefly noted as follows :—Admiralty (1700) 100,000 vols. ; House of Corn mons (1818), c. 6o,000 vols.; House of Lords (1834) 8o,000 vols. ; India Office (180o) 130,00o printed books and 15,000 mss. and xylographs; Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens (1853), 40,000 volumes.
Outside London the most important State libraries are the na tional libraries of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Sir George Mac kenzie, of Rosehaugh, may be regarded as the founder of the National Library of Scotland. In 1684 the first librarian was ap pointed, and in 1686 the books and furniture were valued at up wards of I1l,000, exclusive of donations. The library retains the copyright privilege conferred upon it in 1709. Of the special col lections the most important are the Astorga (Spanish), purchased in 1824; the Thorkelin collection, relating chiefly to the history and antiquities of the northern nations ; the Dietrich collection of German pamphlets and dissertations, and the Barnbougle Scot tish collection, presented in 1928 by Lord Rosebery.
Manuscripts number well over 3,000. There are 13 monastic chartularies which escaped the destruction of the religious houses to which they belonged. The mss. relating to Scottish church his tory include the collections of Spottiswoode, Wodrow and Calder wood. Sir James Balfour's collection and the Balcarres papers
consist largely of original State papers of James V., Queen Mary and James VI. The Sibbald papers are largely topographical. The Riddel notebooks illustrate Scottish genealogy. The Mag nusson Icelandic mss., purchased in 1825, and some Persian and Sanskrit, with a few classical, manuscripts may be noted. The most important mss. of old poetry are the Bannatyne ms., written by George Bannatyne in 1568, and the Auchinleck ms.
In 1922, the Faculty, finding the maintenance of the general library increasingly onerous, offered it to the Government as a national library of Scotland. The Government accepted the offer in 1923, when an institution towards which movements had been made in Scotland since 1870 received a gift of Lioo,000 from Sir Alexander Grant, and the necessary act was passed and the library transferred in 1925. The library now contains over 750,000 volumes. The advocates retain the law section.
The National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, founded in 1907, was opened in 1915. It enjoys the copyright privilege, and now contains nearly 500,000 volumes, classified by the Library of Congress scheme. It is very rich in Welsh manuscripts, includ ing the collection of Sir John Williams, and Wynn of the Gwydyr, Peniarth, Crosswood and Carreglwyd papers. Francis Bour dillon's Romances, and C. Thomas-Stanford's Euclids are among special collections of printed books. The National Library of Ireland, Dublin, was founded in 1877, and incorporates the li brary of the Royal Dublin Society. It contains about 300,000 volumes, classified on the decimal system, and catalogued in various forms.