Woodcroft's heritage: the collections at the Science Reference Library

Abstract

• ANY considerable library has a character all its own, a character usually reflecting the disproportionate influence of a few outstanding men who have shaped its development. The Science Reference Library, which celebrated its 125th anniversary on 5 March 1980, is no exception for, primus inter pares, it is the library of Bennet Woodcroft. Woodcroft was an extraordinary man even by the standards of the mid-Victorians. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he had been a manufacturer, a patentee, and Professor of Machinery at University College, London, before joining the Patent Office in 1852. He then stage-managed the evolution of the Patent Office into its modern form, established the published series of British patents, collected and encouraged others to collect historic technological material which helped to form the nucleus of the Science Museum, was responsible for the deposit of sets of British patent specifications in regional libraries, and built, equipped, and was the first librarian of the Patent Office Library. Most if not all of his later public life stemmed from a central belief that the record of invention was an invaluable source of technical information. He was a tireless advocate of the free and immediate availability of this technical information to all who could use it.