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Posted - 18/08/2010 : 17:49:35
Calling all map publishers... please send us your publications!
In recent years, a growing proportion of maps and atlases, published or distributed in the United Kingdom, have not been received by the Legal Deposit Libraries. This may be due to uncertainty over the legislation, over what constitutes a publication, or to whom publications should be sent (following the move of the Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries last year). We are very keen to try to address this problem by explaining these issues below.
The principle of legal deposit has been well established for nearly four centuries and has advantages for cartographers and publishers. Publications deposited with the legal deposit libraries:
Become part of the national heritage
Become an archive of publishers output
Are catalogued and preserved for the benefit of future generations
Act as a shop-window for publishers, encouraging people to buy items
What is included?
All published items come within the scope of legal deposit. A work is said to be published when copies of it are issued to the public. The place of publication or printing, the nature of the imprint, and the price or the size of distribution are immaterial. It is therefore the act of issuing or distributing to the public in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland which renders a work liable to deposit. Items originally published elsewhere but distributed in the United Kingdom and in Ireland are also liable for deposit.
Publishers' legal obligation
Publishers are obliged to send one copy of each of their publications to the British Library, free of charge, within one month of the date of publication. The other five libraries have the right to request the deposit of publications, free of charge, within a year of the date of publication. In practice many publishers deposit their publications with all six libraries without waiting for a claim to be made, which is greatly appreciated. The Legal Deposit Libraries are very keen to protect publishers' copyright, and are strict over controlling any requests for copies in line with copyright legislation.
UK and Irish legislation
The Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 (UK) and the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (Ireland) make it obligatory for publishers and distributors in the United Kingdom and Ireland to deposit their publications. These acts cover printed and electronic publications, though legislation is not yet in place for the latter. In the meantime, a code of practice exists in the United Kingdom for the voluntary deposit of electronic publications, and also for microform and other non-printed publications. In Ireland, the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 proposes to extend legal deposit to electronic formats.
Where should publications be sent?
Publications destined for the British Library (with the exception of newspapers and pure electronic content) should be sent to:
The Legal Deposit Office
The British Library
Boston Spa, Wetherby
West Yorkshire
LS23 7BY
T +44 (0)1937 546268
legal-deposit-books@bl.uk
Enquiries about the deposit of pure electronic content should be sent to:
The Digital Acquisitions Co-ordinator
The British Library
Boston Spa, Wetherby
West Yorkshire
LS23 7BQ
www.bl.uk
T +44 (0)1937 546535
LDO-Electronic@bl.uk
Other Legal Deposit Libraries
The Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries is authorised to collect publications on behalf of the other five legal deposit libraries. Publications and enquiries should be addressed to:
The Agent
Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries
161 Causewayside
Edinburgh
EH9 1PH Tel: +44 (0)131 623 4680
Fax: +44 (0)131 623 4681
http://www.legaldeposit.org.uk/
Email: publisher.enquiries@legaldeposit.org.uk
Irish publishers should send material destined for the British Library to them directly, and publications destined for the five Legal Deposit Libraries to:
Irish Copyright Agency
c/o Trinity College Library
College Street
Dublin 2
T +353 (0) 896 1021
F +353 (0) 1671 9003
www.tcd.ie/Library/
libraryaccessions@tcd.ie
Issued on behalf of the map librarians in the six Legal Deposit Libraries:
The British Library
The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Cambridge University Library
The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
The Library of Trinity College, Dublin
The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
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