The Reading Room was in continual use from 1857 until its closure in 1997. Access was restricted to registered researchers only; however, reader's credentials were generally available to anyone who could show that they were a serious researcher.
The Reading Room was used by a large number of famous figures, including notably Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Mohandas Gandhi, Rudyard Kipling and Vladimir Lenin.
Following the move to the new site, the old Reading Room was opened to the public in 2000.
Much of the action of David Lodge's 1965 novel The British Museum Is Falling Down takes place in the old Reading Room.