News from the British Library

The British Library is delighted to host Jack Kerouac’s 120-foot manuscript scroll of On the Road in London for the first time as part of a new exhibition opening tomorrow, 4 October 2012. On the Road: Jack Kerouac’s Manuscript Scroll explores the development of the novel that defined the Beat Generation and has become a classic of post-war American literature.

The exhibition relaunches the Library’s Folio Society Gallery, which has been home to British Library exhibitions including The Worlds of Mervyn Peake and A Hankering after Ghosts: Charles Dickens and the Supernatural.

The exhibition runs until 27 December 2012. 

Manchester Central Library under Siege.

A campaign by the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and a number of other literary names to stop the destruction of hundreds of thousands of books at the UK's largest municipal library appeared to have succeeded.

In June the group http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/manchester called for an end to the pulping of the non-fiction books at Manchester central library which is undergoing a restoration. The campaigners argue that the book collections were as important as the fabric of the building, rivalled only by the British Library.

The group, the Friends of Central Library, said on Monday they believed the books would now be stored in a warehouse until a final decision could be made about their future.

Meanwhile, the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded £1.55m to the council to create an archive centre at the library. Rare books will be showcased in the first floor domed reading room. The refurbishment of the library is expected to be completed by 2014.

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