Fraud Blocker

In the UK, it’s every publisher’s obligation to send at least one copy of a published book, free of charge, to the British Library. This has been in English law for printed books and papers since 1662 (and for electronic publications since 2013).

Since then, five more libraries have been added to the list, making six deposit libraries in total – each of which require a copy of every new publication that is published in the UK.

There is no charge to submit the books to the deposit libraries, but obviously there is a cost in producing and sending the books.

Ok, so what do I need to do?

ONE copy of the book must be sent to the British Library:

Legal Deposit Office
The British Library
Boston Spa
Wetherby
West Yorkshire
LS23 7BY

Copies must also be supplied upon request to any of the five UK deposit libraries. You can wait for the request, but you might want to send the books anyway since it’s likely that the request will come your way.

The Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries operates on behalf of these five UK deposit libraries. So, FIVE copies go to one address:

Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries
Unit 21 Marnin Way
Edinburgh
EH12 9GD

You will also need to include a cover letter, giving the title, ISBN and your contact information. You should then receive written confirmation of receipt, within a few weeks.

These five are then distributed, one each, to the other five legal deposit libraries:

  1. National Library of Scotland
  2. National Library of Wales
  3. Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
  4. Cambridge University Library
  5. Trinity College Library, Dublin

The Agency for the Legal Deposit for Libraries’ website has more info about submitting electronic publications.

The good news…

If you publish with us, we sort all this for you. Contact us for more info.