Verbal Magazine

Legal Deposit

Almost 400 years ago, in 1610, Sir Thomas Bodley persuaded the Stationers’ Company, which then controlled all printing in England, to donate a copy of each book it licensed to the library at Oxford University. 

So Sir Thomas began in Britain the practice which today is known as legal deposit. Over the centuries the voluntary system of donation which Bodley negotiated has been replaced by a statutory one and the number of libraries covered by the legislation has grown from the Bodleian in Oxford to a total of six geographically scattered libraries: the others being the British Library in London, the National Libraries of Scotland (Edinburgh) and Wales (Aberystwyth), and the university libraries of Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin.
The current legislation says that ‘a person who publishes in the United Kingdom a work to which this Act applies must at his own expense deliver a copy of it to . . . any deposit library entitled to delivery . . . ‘. In the case of the British Library the onus is on the publisher to deposit a copy within one month of publication, the other five libraries must request a copy within 12 months of publication. In practice however many publishers dispatch all six copies soon after publication using the services of an agent representing the libraries.
A number of things about the system of legal deposit might strike us as odd. Firstly, although this is a piece of British legislation (Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003), it names a library which is not in the United Kingdom. Secondly, although the Act applies to publishers in Northern Ireland (and this is spelled out clearly in the final section of the Act), none of the copies which local publishers are required to deposit remain within the Province.
The first point is easily explained as Trinity’s inclusion dates back to Copyright Act of 1801 passed at the time of the act of union. Later history has left the entitlement unchanged. More surprising perhaps is the reciprocal legislation enacted in the Republic of Ireland which imposes upon publishers there the obligation to deposit a copy of each new publication with the British Library and the five other legal deposit libraries named in British Legislation. In addition, Ireland’s Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 adds a further seven libraries to the list of those entitled to a copy: the National Library of Ireland and University College Dublin, NUI Cork, Galway and Maynooth, and Limerick and Dublin City universities. It is not surprising that publishers in Ireland often complain that too much is asked of them (13 copies in all).
The second point about the six locally published copies all leaving Northern Ireland is a more complex matter and one which local politicians have raised from time to time. Several attempts have been made to secure a copy for a library in the north but these have all been rebuffed. For this to happen either a seventh copy would have to be added to the list – something publishers would oppose, - or one of the existing libraries would have to surrender its entitlement to allow a copy to be claimed by a Northern Ireland library.  Some might argue that Dublin would be the obvious candidate to lose its copy but this would break over two hundred years of acquisition. Moreover it would be no easy thing for a library in the north to undertake such a role. It is not simply a matter of receiving ‘free’ copies. The legal deposit libraries have an obligation to record and preserve all the copies they receive and to make them available to readers. This places a considerable burden on them, and were any library in the north to find itself in receipt of the 120000 new titles published in the UK each year it would require massive investment in storage and staff resources. Access to Trinity is open to all bona fide researchers and modern transport makes it easier than ever to get there.
Publishers might ask why any libraries should have the right to claim a copy under legal deposit. The six libraries are all large and wealthy organisations, surely, it might be argued, they can afford to buy whatever they require. For the small publisher, depositing six copies might seem an unfair imposition. The defence of legal deposit is that it ensures that a nation or region’s publishing output is collected, recorded, preserved and made available in perpetuity. When a copy is deposited a standard description is drawn up and that description is made available throughout the book world. It is, if you like, given its birth certificate. Also the copy is preserved for all time. Legal deposit copies are not loaned but are consulted by readers under secure conditions, so publishers will know that examples of their output are safe for the foreseeable future. It can be a surprise to discover how quickly copies of a particular book go out of print and how soon the loan copies in libraries wear out and are discarded. Were it not for the legal deposit copies all trace of them might soon disappear.
However, not every publisher is aware of the obligations of legal deposit, and some who are remain unconvinced of its merits. In these instances it falls to the deposit libraries to track down and request the books. Ten years ago a survey conducted in Northern Ireland showed that despite the best efforts of Trinity College and the British Library only 40% of NI published titles were acquired. To address this shortfall the Northern Ireland Publications Resource (NIPR) was set up with funding from the British Library. It has no legal powers but appeals to the generosity of local publishers asking them to donate two copies of each title published guaranteeing that these copies will remain in secure storage and their existence recorded and made known to libraries and readers throughout the world. It is a great pleasure to acknowledge that Northern Ireland publishers large and small whole-heartedly support NIPR, and in eight years a large database has been built up and a very vibrant local publishing scene has been revealed. NIPR is now funded by the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure.
What do publishers get in return for their generous donations? Well, in addition to knowing that copies of their output will be preserved, the database of publications is searchable online making the book’s existence known. Each quarter NIPR issues a list of publications recently received and this is sent to libraries and other institutions throughout the world with an interest in Irish studies. NIPR has a bookshops section on its website which makes it easier for readers to acquire local publications. NIPR also offers publishers a range of advice, and it recently brought out Publishing for Success: a Practical guide, by Anne Tannahill which contains a huge amount of practical guidance.

For more information on NIPR and Publishing for Success see the website http://www.nibooks.org.uk. For more information on legal deposit see the British Library’s website http://www.bl.uk.

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