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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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libraries
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The widespread provision of public libraries, from which anyone living in the district can borrow books free of charge, dates back to the Public Libraries Act of 1850. This enabled towns to spend money from the rates for this purpose, but progress was slow until private charity – most notably that of Andrew *Carnegie – forced the pace. The trust set up by Carnegie provided library buildings (eventually more than 2800 in the English-speaking world), but with the essential proviso that the local authority would be responsible for the running costs. Borrowing has remained free, but from 1984 payments have been made under *Public Lending Right to the authors of the books borrowed. See also *copyright libraries.
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