75 Years of the BNB (and bewitching Narnia books)

Blog series Knowledge Matters blog

Author Mark Ellison, Metadata Services Manager

In 2025 the British National Bibliography (BNB) marks its 75th anniversary, and following a period of unavailability the database has now been fully restored to users. Read on to discover more about this service, its landmark anniversary and its restoration.

The BNB was launched in 1950, and despite being newer than many other national bibliographies (Belgium’s was precisely 75 years old that year), it soon listed a wealth of iconic publications. In its first year the BNB featured an entry for a new novel, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (50-9745), and would go on to include all of C.S. Lewis’s bewitching Narnia books.

The bibliography reflects the published output of both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It includes details of millions of resources, representing a current awareness resource for librarians and a historical archive for academics.

In normal times the creation of BNB entries happens within our library management system, but this was one of the applications made unavailable in late October 2023 when the Library was hit by a cyberattack. Yet books kept arriving, with descriptive records still being created by our suppliers and other Legal Deposit Libraries. Colleagues in our Metadata Services team went through a painstaking process to replicate the usual functions.

We utilised our offline databases and different software applications, managing and adapting the incoming records. Like Aslan, the BNB returned to life. Its numbering continued uninterrupted, and we have since created a quarter of a million new entries. Among these was a 75th anniversary edition of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (GBC582214).

We continued with our supply of MARC records and PDF summaries, and the records were made viewable via the Share Portal. However, for many users the main concern was the Z39.50 service, through which other libraries can import bibliographic records to their own systems. They use the records for acquisition tasks, ordering and ingesting new material. They can also use the metadata for their description of resources, as BNB records will usually contain Dewey classification and FAST headings.

We’re pleased to announce that the Z39.50 service is now available again, and anyone interested should contact metadata@bl.uk. We already have several thousand registered users, from small school libraries to large academic institutions. It’s been heartening to receive grateful messages sent by librarians from around the world. The restored service provides them with access not just to the BNB but to the BL’s full Integrated Catalogue.

The Library is just about to replace its library management platform, moving from Aleph to Alma. This will involve a slight change to the Z39.50 service, we’ll be contacting users with details of this change towards the end of the year. In the meantime, we’d encourage librarians and other colleagues to spread the news about the return of this much-valued service.