recognising the fact that there was nothing in a Bill, which the council was then promoting (and which subsequently became the Architects Registration Act, 1938), to interfere with the activities of registered architects. The decisive issues concerning the legislation for the Register of Architects Records held by the British Architectural Library show that from the 1890s the motivations for promoting and opposing a registration act had been mixed. But the content of the originating act of 1931 as amended by the act of 1938 shows that the decisive issue at that time was the importance attached to giving to architects the responsibility of superintending or supervising the building works of local authorities (for housing and other projects), rather than to persons professionally qualified only as municipal or other engineers. A significant indicator for this inference is in section 1 (1) of the 1938 act. By the 1970s that issue had had its day, to be replaced by another which has resulted in the current legislation: the Architects Act 1997 as amended. The issue which emerged in the 1970s developed into the obligation imposed on the United Kingdom and other European governments to comply with European Union Directives concerning the designation of "competent authorities" in connection with the mutual recognition of professional qualifications in favour of equal standards across borders, in furtherance of the single market policy. Inspection of the Register In connection with the protection of title and the enforcement provisions, the originating and later legislation imposed on the registration body (now the ARB) a requirement to provide copies of the Register annually. Formerly, hard bound copies of all volumes in the annual series, from volume 1 for 1933, were available for inspection by members of the public at the British Architectural Library of the Royal Institute of British Architects, London. Latterly, some hiatus on the part of the Board in producing printed copies of the Register in accordance with the legislation and the Board's previous practice has impeded the continuation of the series for retention (on the part of the British Architectural Library or others) as annual volumes for reference. The current website offers only a downloadable pdf format. For other more limited purposes and for commercial and similar purposes names of persons currently registered can be searched online at a website maintained by the registration body. The information held on this version of the Register could help members