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Secure Electronic Delivery (SED)

Quick facts

  • 1 in 3 document supply customers now use SED
  • Around 30% of our Electronic Table of Contents (ETOC) database can now be downloaded immediately and everything else can be delivered within 2 hours
  • It is our most cost-effective delivery method
  • Articles are delivered as encrypted PDFs and are fully copyright compliant
  • User is required to have Adobe Digital Editions, a small, freely downloadable software application (4MB), to receive SED documents. For more information, please visit the Adobe Digital Editions website
  • You can order a document via any of our ordering routes and whether you are a registered or not

What’s new?

From March 2009, customers using our Secure Electronic Delivery (SED) service will need a new software application Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) in order to view electronic documents. ADE can be downloaded now, for free, from the Adobe website

Visit our FAQ for more information.  

Pricing model

SED is our most cost-effective delivery option, starting at £7.85 for Immediate Downloads (where available) and Standard Service. 24 hour (£16.00) and 2 hour (£25.00) guaranteed services are also available.

Further resources and information

Try downloading a test document from the link on the right.

Order an SED document through British Library Direct (credit card payment required)

View our frequently asked questions about SED.

For more information, please contact us at:

Tel: +44 (0)1937 546060
Fax: +44 (0) 1937 546544
Email: marketing@bl.uk

PDF files

The links below are to Adobe PDF files. Accessibility solutions and free Reader software are available from Adobe.