ONCE AGAIN, the annual Stuart Rossiter Memorial Lecture was held at the British Library's Conference Centre in the Euston Road, which is becoming like a well worn glove, fitting comfortably at all times.

A well filled 'Auditorium' was brought to order by Peter Kelly, who, on behalf of the Trust, described its aims and activities. In the past year, three books had been published: Graham Mark's 'British Censorship of British Mails1914/19', a Handbook by the Malta Study Circle on 'Air Mails of Malta', and the first annual issue of the 'Rossiter Postal History Journal'. Indeed, to the end of 2000, some 12 books had been published, six lectures given, with a further 9 books in hand for future production. Peter also detailed some of the research work for which grants had been furnished.

Richard Payne then took the rostrum to introduce, in his inimitable manner, the speaker of the day, our Senior Vice-President, David Beech. David began with a reference to the letter he had received from Robert Johnson, the Corresponding Trustee of the Stuart Rossiter Trust, who urged him to challenge old and comfortable ideas and prejudices where they are out of date, then quickly moved to his theme. He described the British Library, where he had worked since 1983, with some understatement as 'an incredible institution' containing, truly, 'the sum of human knowledge'. He essayed a definition of philately, dealing with its multifarious nature, but sought, he said, a broader approach.

He dealt with what he saw research to be, and equated it to publication (this struck a chord with your reporter, in whose past it was made quite clear that no research was ever finished until the topic had been reported in a publication). There were golden rules of research - the 'modus operandi'- and at the outset one must say 'What is the question?' ie, the subject must be defined. Far too much research work is started prematurely without this vital question being put! The area of research has to be defined, previous efforts have to be uncovered, and it has to be admitted that research takes as long as it takes, not just the time you have available. Copying one person's work is plagiarism, copying several persons' work is research. In all such 'survey' work it was important to give proper citations, to signpost the efforts one has made in the world of philatelic literature.

Of course, the British Library was not the only source of information. Research must come first from primary sources one's own collection or the collections of others, but in going, inevitably, beyond that one must deal with the secondary sources, the accounts of what have been seen, or discovered. There were many such sources, libraries, archives, etc., and in these one must discover what has already been done and published. Here is where the British Library can enter the scene, with its bibliographies, library catalogues, indexes. The Curator/Librarian/Archivist is your best friend. Get to know him/her well. Learn the system of the Museum or Library in which you are working.

There is help available on all hands, and one book, perhaps above all others, can give a key to the best way of approaching one's research tasks, viz Jim Negus' book 'Philatelic Literature: Compilation Techniques and Reference Sources' (published by James Bendon in 1991). Its skilful use will inculcate a professional approach.

Now the British Library collections are manifold - the Philatelic Collections alone have over 8 million items. The Library has some 30,000 volumes of philatelic literature, which is a world collection, all subjects and periods: Western languages, books and monographs, periodicals, auction catalogues, philatelic exhibition literature, stamp catalogues, etc. The Library receives copies, by legal deposit, of all works published in the British Isles, to which one must add the unique holding of the Crawford Library, with some 4,500 volumes from 1861 to 1913. The Departmental Library of the Philatelic Collections amounts to some 5/6,000 volumes, mainly modern, and growing constantly - some 40 volumes per month are bound.

David went on to describe the wealth of information available in the whole of the Library (not just the Philatelic Collections), where there were some 12.5 million volumes, and of especial interest to philatelists are timetables, directories, shipping information, British proclamations (relating to the posts), postal Acts of Parliament, Hansard – the list is almost endless. Other source collections that might at first sight be overlooked are the National Sound Archive (1.14 million discs, etc.), the Map Library (with 4.2 million sheet maps, 67,000 atlases, etc.). Manuscripts (0.3 million), and all this is accessible by the computer-based catalogues.

Finally he referred to the Newspaper Library (at Colindale), with some 600,000 bound volumes and parcels, 320,000 reels of microfilm; the Official Publications collections from the whole world occupy 43 km of shelving(!); the Oriental and India Office Collections; and the Science Collections, with some 45 million patents (world wide). In closing his account, he referred to the details of access to all this information: information was available about the extent of each department's collections; the need for a reader's pass; the copying services; and referred to the BL Catalogue in the Entrance Hall! The whole was a veritable tour de force and this brief account cannot do justice to the wealth of information that David produced.

Richard Payne closed the proceedings, thanking David profusely for his efforts, and rewarded him with a specially bound edition of the 'Treasury of the British Library'. The occasion was, as always with the Rossiter Memorial Lectures, a significant moment in the Philatelic calendar, and we can only hope that the response will not overwhelm David and his staff!