The British Library is undergoing the most drastic transformation in its 162-year history. The Board, via its Press and Public Relations Unit, offers us a preview of the library of the future - BL 2000. The presentational style is that of the glossy super-confident company report and the abbreviated 'aims and goals' phraseology beloved of macho commerce. Successful business operatives ('winners') waste no time on words. The imperative forms of 'will' and 'shall' feature prominently ('I will drown and nobody shall save me,' as the unlucky Frenchman is supposed to have shouted to impassive British spectators on the shore). By the year 2000, we are told, among 11 other willed predictions, 'the British Library will achieve maximum economy, efficiency, and value for money' and nothing shall stand in its way.

LRB 22 July 1993 | PDF Download