from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
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)