Serving Science and Industry from a National Library

I should like to consider the ways in which special needs in the scientific and industrial communities are met by national libraries. What services are needed? What are provided? How are they changing?

The traditional view of a national library's role is that it should maintain and preserve the national archive and provide a bibliographic record of the nation's literary output. Traditionally, it should provide reference access to the national archive and, possibly, play a central role in the country's document supply network. There are, of course, an infinite number of variations on these themes and individual national circumstances dictate individual solutions. I should like to consider the question by referring to the approach taken by the British Library.