London and the US. 3

Rsponse from the British Library

Dear Mr Mendiratta

Thank you for your email detailing your experiences in the Asian & African Reading Room last week. I am sorry the problems you encountered hampered your research and that you found some of the staff to be unprofessional. I forwarded your message to the Reading Room Manager who will be raising the issues you have listed at her next staff meeting.

I apologise for the problems you experienced with the reader call light system. In the next couple of days, the Reading Room manager will be carrying out checks on all the desk lights and lamps and any lights found not to be working will be replaced.

The member of staff was wrong to inform you that you could not order any more material. Issue desk staff have been briefed to either order more items by proxy (on behalf of the reader), or to suggest that the reader requests a temporary extension to their reader limit (this can easily be arranged and in a short space of time). I regret that this did not happen in your case.

I am sorry that you were disturbed by the staff talking. We are aware sound does travel in the reading rooms and have reminded staff to speak quietly. A certain amount of noise is inevitable at busy issue desks, staff do have to communicate with each other and of course answer readers' queries, but we will remind staff again of the need to keep noise to a minimum.

I am very concerned by the observation you made regarding a fallen book and the staff member's response. A book can slip from a trolley if its not stacked correctly, but in a situation like that we would expect any member of staff to pick the book up immediately and to check for any damage. The Reading Room Manager has already raised this issue with the staff who were working on the Issue Desk during your visit and reminded them of the correct procedure.

I would like to apologise again for the unsatisfactory experience you had. The British Library prides itself on delivering good customer service and it is very disappointing to hear that we have fallen short of our own high standards. I do hope that your next visit will be more successful.

Yours sincerely