The process of defining the role and functions of a national library for the United Kingdom has been a long and complex one and it should not surprise us if the British Library, founded in 1972 as the result of long deliberations, remains ‘a work in progress’. A characteristic feature of its work today is its close links – and often active co-operation – with national libraries abroad, grouped as they are in such bodies as the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) and Conference of European National Libraries (CENL). Through such contacts it has become clear that each national library has assumed its own peculiar role within each nation state, a role based on local traditions and current cultural policy. There is no template for what a national library is or does; one of the few criteria laid down for membership of CENL, for example, is the maintenance of a national bibliography, but even this seems to be a rule that is not universally applied.

Many national libraries, including the British Library, acknowledge a particular responsibility for the national documentary record, the written (or sometimes spoken) heritage recorded in a variety of ancient and modern media. The Library of the British Museum, however, was conceived from the beginning as a scholarly research collection that would not confine itself to the record of British publication and achievement. As reconceived by Anthony Panizzi, it aspired to be universal in its range and scope, its collections of print especially representing all significant topics, polities and cultures.