Baroness Tessa Blackstone, Minister for State for Further and Higher Education, was the guest of honour at the opening of a new Learning Resource Centre (LRC) at North Birmingham College (NBC) on the 1 May 1998. LRC provides excellent facilities for staff and students. It is the electronic hub for the College. The Centre has state-of-the-art applications on Apple Macintosh and PCs. Open Access Suites provide students with opportunities to access the Internet as part of their course work and for general interest.

The link to KMi was provided by the use of KMi Planet to carry the story of the opening at which Peter Whalley and Tom Vincent were guests of the Principal and Chief Executive, Mrs Joan Short. Links were also made by a demonstration of students accessing the Mars Buggy and the potential use of VoxChat.