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The British National Bibliography Exclusions Policy

Certain classes of material are not included in the British National Bibliography. In some cases this is because they are more properly included elsewhere, and all Parliamentary and many other official publications or are recorded in the catalogues of the Stationery Office. The future inclusion of other categories, e.g. electronic material and large print books, is being actively pursued. Some classes of material, e.g. toys and games, are considered as being outside the remit of the national bibliography.

Exclusion from BNB does not imply that publishers of this material are exempt from their legal obligations to deposit material under the terms of the various Copyright Acts.

  1. General Printed Material

    • Material without a British or Irish imprint and without a UK distributor named within it
    • Straight reprints of an earlier edition where the publisher and format is unchanged
    • Second and subsequent issues of serial publications
    • Export editions published in the UK but which are not available for sale in this country
    • Research reports and non-trade monographs

  2. Official Publications

    • Parliamentary papers
    • Non-parliamentary papers such as publications of an administrative nature, appeals, awards, circulars, defence guides, lists and specifications, examination papers, forms, licences, memoranda, notices, orders, regulations, returns, tax cases, and warrants
    • Reports on individual institutions such as schools, prisons, police forces etc.

  3. Local Material

    • Local government publications of an administrative nature, e.g. minutes and agendas of meetings, information leaflets and booklets
    • Electoral rolls
    • Telephone directories
    • Official town guides
    • Non-research level local publications, e.g. publications giving information for local residents, publications of local branches of political parties

  4. Material Distinguished by Form

    • Printed music
    • Maps
    • Non-book material
    • Toy books, e.g. wipe-clean books, bath books
    • Toys and games
    • Playing cards
    • Books of camera-ready illustrations, lettering etc.
    • Large print books
    • Patents
    • Calendars
    • Diaries (unless containing substantial text)
    • Knitting patterns
    • Postcards
    • Posters

  5. Promotional Material

    • Trade literature
    • Publicity material
    • Prospectuses or syllabuses for educational courses

  6. Ephemeral Material

    • Reports of organisations which are not publicly accountable
    • Material intended for limited distribution, e.g. literature for shareholders
    • Material which would be destroyed by use, e.g. paper dressmaking patterns, puzzle books
    • Timetables of transport services
    • Examination papers
    • Religious or political tracts
    • Off-prints
    • Blank stationery
    • Unbound material
    • Manuscripts or typescripts
    • Loose-leaf supplements

For further information please contact:

The British Library
Bibliographic Development
Boston Spa, Wetherby
West Yorkshire
LS23 7BQ
United Kingdom

Tel: + 44 (0) 1937 546548
Fax: + 44 (0) 1937 546586
Email: bd-info@bl.uk