Following the passing of the British Library Act by Parliament in 1972,the British Library came into operation with effect from 1st July 1973.(1) ____________________________________,expanding the depth and breadth of its collections:the India Office Library and Records (in 1982) and the British Institute of Recorded Sound (in 1983).(2) _______________________________.The major sections of the organization known as the British Library are the Library of the British Museum,Patent Office Library, National Central Library, and the British Library Document Supply Centre.The Department of Printed Books of the British Museum was founded in the same year of the foundation of the British museum,in 1753. (3) _____________________________________________.These include not only books, journals and magazines, but also newspapers, maps and printed music.The British Museum’s domed Reading Room is well known in intellectual circles,and was designed in the 1850s at the urge of Sir Anthony Panizzi, then Chief Librarian.Originally the Reading Room was open to the general public, but due to overcrowding,a pass was required for admission.In addition to Vladimir Lenin, other famous readers in this exclusive place of study included Karl Marx,and the writers Charles Dickens and George Bernard Shaw.The British Library Document Supply Centre administers a stock of over 260,000 journal titles,over 3 million books, almost 500,000 conference proceedings, nearly 5,000,000 scientific reports.Its 20,000 customers from all over the world make about 4,000,000 requests every year.
