I consulted my domestic oracle on this.
As a public librarian, he (Mark Bryant) suggests that your reader may have
been thinking of the old Public Lending Right arrangement under which
academic libraries agreed to allow use of the library by the public in
return for discount on books purchased. This has been abolished for nearly
10 years. In any case, it was never taken up by "all " academic libraries
(we think that Hull University, under Philip Larkin, chose to skip the
discount rather than allow public use). Mark also tells me that there was
never any provision in the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act for public
use of academic libraries.
Sue
Sue Lacey Bryant - BA Hons, Dip Lib, MSc, MCLIP
Independent Information Specialist
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Mob: 0 777 34 77 55 2
"There are things known, and there are things unknown. And in between are
the doors."
Jim Morrison
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alison Charlesworth" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 5:53 PM
Subject: Medical Libraries
> I work in an academic medical library. During the course of
> a dispute with a reader, he informed me, that All Medical
> Libraries are Public Libraries and therefore a bound by
> Public Library regulations. This he claimed was according
> to the Library Act (he didn't say which one.)
>
> Does anyone know where I can find this info, or is he
> winding me up?
>
> Thanks
> Alison
> ----------------------
> Alison Charlesworth
> Counter Services Supervisor
> Medical Library
> Kings College London
> St Thomas' Hospital
> Lambeth Palace Road
> London
> SE1 7EH
>
>
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