30 July 2004
The British Library is responding well to the challenges of the digital age, the National Audit Office says in a report published this week.
But it needs 'to remain vigilant' to ensure that the benefits from its programme to convert material to digital form can be sustained. Its cataloguing system also could be made more user-friendly, the report says.
The library's document supply centre lost a third of its business between 1998 and 2003, due largely to the advent of the electronic journal and the development of new publisher business models, the NAO says. 'The library has responded to this challenge well by embarking on a major programme of modernisation,' it adds.
More than 2 million people use the library's website in a year, and its accessibility has 'improved considerably' in the past few years.
Auditor general Sir John Bourn said: 'The library deserves much credit for responding well to the increased competition… It is important that [it] and other organisations collaborate to exploit fully the great opportunities for providing materials of relevance to a wide range of users.'
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