British Library Method

algorithm Brute force searching.

According to legends circulating in the 1970s, in the British

Library books are searched for by examining each book

sequentially in the first shelf, then the next shelf,

continuing until the book is found or the entire library has

been searched.

The term was referred to in a Dutch coursebook, "Inleiding In

De Informatica" (Introduction to Informatics) from a course

given by C.H.A. Koster and Th.A. Zoethout. This was based on

a course given at the TU Berlin.

[Reference?]

(1999-04-14)