Florence Milnes

FM (1893 – 1966) was a librarian who established the reference library at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and ran it for more than thirty years. The library was her idea, and she persuaded the newly-founded corporation that one was needed. She began the work in 1927 and by the time she retired in 1958 the library had 46 staff. She was given an MBE in 1943 for her contribution to the national broadcaster.

Early years

Born in 1893, she went to the FCJ College in Liverpool. During the First World War she worked at the Ministry of Munitions. In 1925 she started work at the BBC as a research assistant to the Artistic Director, but in 1926 was moved to a News Unit covering the General Strike. As the BBC came to understand the news implications of radio, Milnes was authorised to begin the library and information service which would occupy her for the rest of her working life. "It was apparent to me from the beginning that there was, and increasingly would be, the need for a library which would function in the same way as does a University Library for its students...".[Miss F Milnes, the BBC reference library: formation, history and development, 1927 to 1958, The Library World, volume 60] she cut back on her mile-long walks to the British Museum Reading room and, starting with an encyclopaedia, Bible and a heap of press cuttings, gradually built up a collection of on-site resources.