The City of London provides local government services for the financial and commercial heart of Britain, the ‘Square Mile’. It is committed to maintaining and enhancing the status of the business City as the world’s leading international financial and business centre through the policies it pursues and the high standard of services it provides. Its responsibilities extend far beyond the City boundaries in that it also provides a host of additional facilities for the benefit of the nation. These range from open spaces such as Epping Forest and Hampstead Heath to the famous Barbican Arts Centre.

The City of London combines its ancient traditions and ceremonial functions with the role of a modern and efficient local authority, looking after the needs of its residents, businesses and over 320,000 people who come to work in the ‘Square Mile’ every day. Among local authorities the City of London is unique; not only is it the oldest in the country but it operates on a non-party political basis through its Lord Mayor, Aldermen and members of the Court of Common Council. The Lord Mayor in particular plays an important diplomatic role with his overseas visits and functions at the historic Guildhall and Mansion House for visiting heads of State.

This is a pretty decent library with a very good selection of CDs and travel guides. In fact, I almost hate to let others in on the Barbican’s Library. I just know the next time I head over there in search for a guidebook for an upcoming trip, it’ll be checked out. Oh well. There’s an alright catalogue of DVDs too.

Life in London is so hectic, everybody is rushing around and it’s so noisy. This place is so peaceful and stress free I literally spent a lot of my nights here during my college time just to get away. So many people recommended it to me but I didn’t like the sound of a snotty library but when I eventually went I couldn’t believe how amazingly big it was and it literally had everything from music scores to a book by Charles Dickens. I loved going and I spent hours looking through all the Music and this fantastic place actually has one of the largest recording music collections in London available to the public. All types of music including pop, jazz and blues, folk, film, musicals, country and western as well as a comprehensive range of classical music. I couldn’t believe all the sheet music that was available and there are even keyboards in the library to practice with. If you are a performer, writer, piano player or anything else artistic I really do advise a visit as this place it is absolutely astounding.