Sounds of the British Library

A small collection of recordings from 2014 of public and behind-the-scenes activities and environments in the British Library. Many thanks to some of my former Library colleagues for the help they offered in making this.

From here an obscure route leads to a trapdoor in the roof and the sounds of building work from the nearby Crick Institute.

One of the Conservation team pares a piece of leather for a book cover. The atmosphere inside the Science reading room.

The public areas of the building are always busy with visitors and researchers. A hubbub of voices around the King's Library tower.

Catering staff prepare at 8am for the day ahead. At the rear of the building, raindrops land on the metal slats of an awning.

Audio technician Eve digitises a century-old wax cylinder. Kevin, monocle in place, informs and entertains a visitors' tour.

A walk around part of a basement level with the sounds of staff at work and book delivery conveyor belts' clatter overhead.

Vast boiler rooms comprise the heart of the Library's heating system. Ear protection must be worn against their cacophony.

With the working day over, the basements are given over to the quiet hum of machinery and the rumble of passing tube trains.