As the number of books increased, the Council resolved in 1938 that a new library was an "urgent necessity", but the outbreak of World War II meant that it was not until 1960, and the development of a new Inner Ring Road through the site of the old library, that a general specification was agreed. The library and the BMI building were demolished (the BMI moving to premises a block to the east), and the site is now part of the Birmingham Conservatoire and its gardens. The 1970s Central Library was constructed on a site originally occupied by Mason Science College and Liberal Club.