UK

This page considers the UK legal deposit regime.

It covers -

• introduction
• electronic material

     introduction

The Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 (here), in effect from 2004, extends the existing print-centred regime to other media formats, including offline electronic information.

Under the 1911 Copyright Act publishers were required to provide at their own expense a copy of every publication to the British Library and each of five other designated deposit libraries: the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Cambridge University Library and Trinity College Dublin.

The definition of publication encompassed

every part of a book, pamphlet, sheet of letterpress, sheet of music, map, plan, chart or table that is separately published.

     electronic material

In 1996 the British Library sought extension of legal deposit to non-print material, resulting in the 1998 report by a Working Party on Legal Deposit for the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport. That report recommended development of a code of practice for the voluntary deposit of electronic publications, commenting that in the longer term statutory deposit would be required.

The resultant Code of Practice for the Voluntary Deposit of Non-Print Publications, in effect from January 2000, was broadly endorsed by the UK publishers and libraries. It centres on the deposit of microforms and physical format electronic publications, reflected in the Legal Deposit Libraries Act's emphasis on 'offline materials' such as "electronic publications issued on magnetic tapes, magnetic disks, or optical disks". The legislation provides for deposit of those publications "in the form in which they are made available to the public, together with anything else that is required to enable them to be used".

The UK Crown Copyright regime - discussed here - encourages reproduction of legislation and parliamentary proceedings on a value-added basis, with publishers generally required to supply a minimum of two complimentary copies to the House of Lords Library and an end-user licence for use of electronic products within the parliament.

Theatrical scripts were formerly deposited with the Lord Chamberlain's Office, featured in discussion elsewhere on this site regarding censorship of performance. The Theatres Act 1968 stipulates that a copy of every script performed in a UK licensed venue from September 1968 onwards must be deposited at the British Library, with what is now the derisory penalty of a £5 fine.

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