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The progress of scientific research and technological development in this country requires the efficient organization of free access to all the relevant publicly available information; one of the principal means of serving this end should be the formation of a National Reference Library of Science and Invention; this library should incorporate a comprehensive collection of the currently valid scientific and technical literature of the world, arranged on the principle of open access and associated with an efficient bibliographical information service. This article does not inquire into the validity of these propositions, the grounds for which are discussed elsewhere, but treats them as axiomatic. Its purpose is to consider the implications of the proposed association of the projected reference library with the British Museum.