Legal Deposit in a Digital Age:

an overview

Andrew Davis

Legal Deposit Publisher Relations Manager

The British Library

www.bl.uk 2

Some history

www.bl.uk 3www.bl.uk 3

Sir Thomas Bodley negotiated an agreement with the

Stationers Company to receive books for his library in

Oxford – everything collected under royal licence

Deposit became legal requirement; also extended to Royal

Library (founding collection of British Library) and

Cambridge University Library

Legal deposit extended to Scotland (Faculty of Advocates)

and embodied in first Copyright Act of Queen Anne

Trinity College Dublin added; number of deposit libraries

increased to 9

Number of deposit libraries reduced to 5

Required that publishers deliver direct to British Museum

instead of Stationers Hall, but other libraries had to claim

Copyright Act 1911: extended legal deposit to National

Library of Wales

Deposit libraries and publishing trade associations set up

Voluntary Deposit of Electronic Publications scheme

Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003: reaffirmed legal deposit

provisions for print and laid foundations for digital

Secondary regulations passed for non-print

1662

1709

1801

1836

1842

1911

2000

2003

2013

1610

A brief history of Legal Deposit

www.bl.uk 4

Print legal deposit volumes

122,873 Monographs

199,782 serials issues

1,652 Maps and atlases

917 Music scores

149,634 Newspaper issues

Items received on Legal Deposit 2012/13

201 Playscripts

www.bl.uk 5

Print legal deposit infrastructure

PUBLISHER

BL to issue a receipt for

every item deposited

Publisher to send 1

copy

(best produced) to BL

within

one month of

publication.

ALDL to send a claim to

publisher for 5 copies within

12 months of publication

ALDL distributes copies

deposited to the 5 libraries

Publisher to send 5

copies (most produced)

to ALDL within one month

of claim.

BL and ALDL share

Information on

receipts

www.bl.uk 6

The shift to digital

www.bl.uk 7

6th April 2013…

• Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-

Print Works) Regulations

2013

• Extension of existing legal

framework

• Systematic collection of UK’s

published output for heritage

& preservation

• By 6 UK Legal Deposit

Libraries

www.bl.uk 8www.bl.uk 8

A clearly governed, practical

system which does not impose

any unreasonable burden on

publishers, offers potential to

realise savings, and protects

the interests of publishers

and right holders

A manageable and efficient

system for the legal deposit

libraries to build up a

comprehensive archive of

non-print published output

to be preserved for research

purposes and the use of future

generations

Balancing

needs

Achieving a balance in the revised regulations

for non-print legal deposit

www.bl.uk 9www.bl.uk 9Shared Implementation

British Library

Boston Spa

NLS

Edinburgh

Cambridge

Univ.

British Library

St Pancras

Bodleian

Oxford

NLW

Aberystwyth

Trinity Coll.

Dublin

Deposit with British

Library (Boston

Spa)

Content shared

and distributed to

four nodes:

- Boston Spa

- St Pancras

- Aberystwyth

- Edinburgh

Access at each

node, and by

secure network for

- Cambridge Univ.

- Oxford Univ.

- Trinity College

Dublin

www.bl.uk 10

Journals – Already transitioned to NPLD

BL Print Intake 2012 Publisher LDL Digital Intake 2014

963 Wiley 1193

304 Emerald 302

70 Maney 159

159 Informa Healthcare 176

16 Manchester University Press 16

36 Edinburgh University Press 38

204 Cambridge University Press 343

223 Oxford University Press 309

511 Sage 742

2486 Total 3276

32% increase digital over print

www.bl.uk 11

Monographs – Already transitioned to

NPLD

Publishers depositing monographs under NPLD Year migrated

Woodhead Publishing 2013

Chandos Publishing 2013

Hachette – All imprints 2013

Kogan Page 2013

Do Sustainability 2013

Open Book Publishers 2013

Loggerhead Publishing Ltd 2013

Department for Education 2013

The Playwrights Publishing Co 2013

Alfie Dog 2014

Audit Scotland 2014

Accent Press/Xcite Books 2014

Cicerone Press 2014

Severn House 2014

www.bl.uk 12

Portal Home Screen

www.bl.uk 13

The future…

Develop capacity & capability

Work closely with UK publishing community & respond to

requests to transition

Contribute to 2017 review of the regulations

www.bl.uk 14

Thank you

• For further information contact

– Andrew.Davis@bl.uk

– 01937 546535