Send Them Your Books - It's the Law • Lynne Garner

Getting ready to post
Did you know if you publish a book (or other printed materials - click here to find out what) in the UK you must send a copy to the British Library, free of charge? This is called 'legal deposit' and it's been law since 1662. Since 2013, the legal deposit regulations were expanded to include digital content, as well as print publications.

You not only have to send a copy to the British Library  but a copy may also be requested free of charge by a further five legal deposit libraries. These libraries are:


  • National Library of Wales 
  • National Library of Scotland
  • Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
  • Cambridge University Library
  • Trinity College Library, Dublin

There are benefits to the publisher and author depositing books in this way, which include:

  • The book becomes part our national heritage
  • Publications are added to the online catalogues, which can be researched by anyone
  • Most books are listed in the British National Bibliography (BNB), which libraries and trade use to order their stock

So you don't have to research where to send your book/s here's the address for the British Library:

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

Thankfully you don't have to send the other five books individually you can send them to the Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries, who operate on behalf of the five libraries listed above. Their address is:

Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries
161 Causewayside
Edinburgh
EH9 1PH

And if you ever have any questions related to this subject I've found the staff of the British Library and the Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries extremely helpful.

Regards

Lynne 



Blatant plug time

Check out my various collections of short stories (available as ebooks and paperback):

Fox of Moon Meadow Farm (ebook 99p/99¢ - 10 stories)

Hedgehog of Moon Meadow Farm (ebook 99p/99¢ - 10 stories)

Ten Tales of Brer Rabbit (ebook 99p/99¢ - 10 stories)

Ten Tales of Coyote  (ebook 99p/99¢ - 10 stories)

Anansi The Trickster Spider (ebook £1.49/$1.49 - 16 stories)


        

   

Comments

Rosalie Warren said…
Thanks for this reminder, Lynne. Time I sent off some books!
Enid Richemont said…
Oh interesting. This isn't the same as PLR, then?
Lynne Garner said…
Enid not nothing to do with PLR. It's so there are copies of your book in six different main libraries, so they are preserved for future generations.

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