Digital Library Programme
Under long-standing Legal Deposit legislation the Library receives a copy of every printed publication produced in the UK and Ireland. We also purchase materials extensively from around the world. Technological developments mean that we are now collecting an ever-increasing number of electronic items.
These electronic items include:
- Digitised materials sourced in the UK, received under a voluntary arrangement with some publishers since January 2000
- The digitisation of parts of our own collections
- e-Journals
- Cartographic data
- Audio CDs and other sound items
- The products of Web archiving
Beyond this, however, the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 (which requires Regulations to be laid before Parliament to bring it into effect) extends the present legislation and places legal requirements on us.
- It enshrines the principle that electronic or e-publications and other non-print materials will be deposited in the Library
- It ensures that these publications can be saved as part of the published archive, and become an important resource for future generations of researchers and scholars.
The processes needed to deal with electronic materials are intrinsically the same as those needed for traditional print materials, but the solutions need to be different.
The Library has set up the Digital Library Programme (formerly known as the 'Digital Object Management Programme') to develop the technical solution to the problems given to us in having such digital items (also referred to as digital 'objects') as part of the Library's collections.
Contact information
For further information, contact either the
Digital Library Programme Communications Officer or the Digital Library Programme Manager
Roderic Parker
Digital Library Programme Communications Officer
The British Library
eIS
Boston Spa, Wetherby
LS23 7BQ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1937 546090
E-mail: roderic.parker@bl.uk
