In 2013-14 the British Library will move the national newspaper collection from its current home in Colindale, north London, to a purpose-built Newspaper Storage Building (NSB) in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire.
The moves are part of a wider programme that aims to safeguard the long-term future of the collection, which includes more than 750 million pages of local, regional and national newspapers, along with periodicals covering every aspect of life in the UK and beyond.
Future access to the collection will be via a dedicated newspaper Reading Room at the Library’s main site at St Pancras, where microfilm and digital copies will satisfy the majority of requests. Where no ‘surrogate’ copy exists, it will be possible to request the print originals from Boston Spa; if the required item is in good enough condition to travel, it will be delivered to St Pancras within 48 hours.
You can find the latest details in the February 2013 issue of the Collection Moves Reader Bulletin (pdf format) previous issues are linked on the right hand side.
Latest news
December 2012 – Culture Minister Ed Vaizey MP was offered the first glimpse inside the new Newspaper Storage Building at Boston Spa. The behind-the-scenes tour of the hi-tech facility was covered in a variety of national and regional media.
BBC Online [includes video]
Digitising British Library newspapers
Another element of the Library’s wider Newspaper Programme is our 10 year partnership with online publisher brightsolid to digitise up to 40 million pages of newspapers. You can explore the British Newspaper Archive online (free to search – page views by subscription) or access the site – which now includes more than 6 million searchable pages – for free in the British Library’s Reading Rooms in London and Yorkshire.
Feedback
If you have any enquiries, please contact: newspaper@bl.uk
