The British Library supports an active programme of loans as a way to share our collections with the public. We lend a wide variety of items to public exhibitions around the UK and the world, reaching over 5 million visitors worldwide each year.
Through our loans programme, the British Library collaborates with partners locally, nationally and internationally, deepening our relationships and providing guidance to enable borrowing of collection materials to a broad range of venues.
We encourage anyone wishing to borrow items for exhibition to carefully read our guidance, and to be in touch with us should you have any questions in advance of sending a formal request.
Please note that we have a very busy loans programme. We need at least 12 months’ formal notice for any new request, and would invite you to submit any request allowing more time, if possible.
Under the terms of the 1972 British Library Act, the British Library Board may “subject to such restrictions and conditions as they think necessary to safeguard their collections, lend any item, and make any part of their collections, or of their premises, available in connection with events of an educational, literary or cultural nature”.
As such, the British Library lends objects to exhibitions in the UK and abroad.
These Conditions (Point 6) should be factored into exhibition preparation and budgeting.
Queries arising from this document should be directed to the British Library’s Registrar’s Office.
Loans are made to public exhibitions within the UK and abroad.
We do not lend to private or commercial exhibitions.
We do not normally lend to inaugural exhibitions in new and untested venues. If we consider doing so, the Library will take steps to ensure that the venue can fully meet our conditions of loan. This may involve an inspection visit prior to agreeing the loan.
To enable the Library to balance its overall obligations and in order to prepare the loan, we do require a formal and final loan request at least 12 months in advance of the exhibition for UK and international loans.
To prepare for this request, borrowers should contact the Registrar’s Office.
The formal written request must be on your organisation's official letterhead and addressed to: Rebecca Lawrence, CEO, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB. A scan of the request should also be sent by email to the Registrar’s Office.
The loan request should contain the following information:
We do our best to support loan requests. In deciding to lend we have to consider:
The request will be considered and the decision communicated to the applicant as soon as possible.
If an application is successful, the borrower will be required to meet our General Conditions of loan (Point 6).
The loan will also be contingent upon the borrower satisfying specific conditions, tailored to the precise circumstances of each loan. These conditions will form the Loan Contract, drawn up by the Registrar’s Office and agreed by the borrower.
The Library holds the Collections in trust for the nation. Part of our statutory obligation is to ensure the safety, security and ongoing preservation of objects within our care. To accomplish this, the following Conditions, which reflect international museum and library standards, are mandatory.
The Borrower will notify the Library if the Exhibition dates change no less than 2 months before the Exhibition opens.
The Borrower will be asked to declare that no item in its collections or in the proposed exhibition, or the manner in which, British Library property is to be treated, will contravene the International Council of Museums Code of Ethics. The Library reserves the right to terminate at its discretion and without notice, without cost, and without prejudice to itself corporately or individually any loan to any exhibition where the borrower has inadvertently, deliberately or otherwise failed to disclose the provenance or lack of provenance of material to be exhibited alongside British Library property, or where the Borrower has acted so as to further or support the trade in illicit cultural property.
In countries where immunity from seizure statutes and/or regulations are in force, it is the responsibility of the Borrower to ensure that British Library property loaned to them is covered by such provisions. Where the Borrower has failed to do so, liability for any consequent loss to the Library will lie with the Borrower.
Loans can only be made to a venue that has been approved by the Manager, Security & Protection Advice, Arts Council England.
The Manager, Security & Protection Advice will contact the Borrower in order to make the assessment.
Please contact the Registrar’s Office with any questions or for more information about our specific security requirements for venues and display cases.
Specific environment and display requirements for each object will be outlined in initial discussions and the Loan Contract. Ranges may be narrower for sensitive objects made of, for example, parchment.
The environment in the gallery and store must be stable and environmentally controlled.
Items displayed within display cases require the following environmental conditions:
The Borrower will need to provide environmental readings from the gallery (ambient) and inside the proposed display case for the same period the previous year as the planned exhibition dates. If this is not available, such as in situations where new cases are being provided or built, the data should be gathered from at least eight weeks in advance of installation. This will enable mitigations to be put in place and tested, should they be required, before the Object is installed.
We will ask for environmental readings from the gallery and display case to be sent to the Loans Manager fortnightly for the duration of the loan as both raw data and graphs.
On arrival at the venue, a period of time, usually up to 24 hours for air freight, will be required for the objects to acclimatise, before being unpacked and installed.
The Library must approve all methods and materials used in the display and must approve the specification and construction of the Display Case. Display Case plans, case elevations and gallery plans must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office for approval at least 12 weeks in advance of installation.
Display cases must be environmentally sealed and will preferably have a separately accessible compartment for Prosorb. New Prosorb, preconditioned to 50% RH, is required in all display cases containing British Library items. All display cases also require dataloggers that can transmit data wirelessly.
Textile that is used to line a display case must be Oddy tested (for corrosive properties) to ensure that it is suitable for use in an enclosed space with an Object.
Smoking, vaping, food and drink are strictly forbidden in any exhibition space containing Library loans. Smoking and vaping should also not permitted anywhere within the Venue.
The borrower will bear the cost of all packing and transport and appoint experienced fine art agents in the UK (and, where applicable, abroad), to undertake this work.
The Registrar’s Office will approve all arrangements, including the choice of fine art agents, before the borrower appoints the agents. Transport must adhere to the minimum requirements set out by the Manager, Security and Protection Advice, Arts Council England.
For international loans, the fine art agents will arrange all customs and security clearance and ensure that the courier (Point 6.8) is given assistance at all ports of entry and exit.
The Library will usually pack the loan and will seek to reuse an existing crate or case. Should a new crate be necessary, the Library will advise the Borrower or appointed agent of our technical specifications.
A courier will usually be required to accompany and supervise the loan. The travel requirements of the Library's courier will be assessed and communicated to the borrower after the loan has been agreed in principle. The Borrower or their appointed agent will be responsible for booking all travel, accommodation, and arranging for payment to the courier of a pre-agreed amount of money to cover food and sundry expenses.
Loans will be covered either by UK Government Indemnity or by commercial fine art insurance.
The UK Government Indemnity Scheme facilitates loans within the UK by removing the need for borrowers to obtain commercial insurance if the Conditions of Loan are met and security at the venue meets with the approval of the Manager, Security and Protection, Arts Council England.
Normal arrangements are as follows:
The Library will also consider foreign government indemnities.
All arrangements will be made by the Registrar’s Office.
The borrower will bear the following costs without limit:
The cost of conservation is normally borne by the Library. If the conservation resources required to prepare it are considerable, or sits outside British Library Conservation skill set, however, the borrower may be required to bear all, or part of the cost.
If no high-resolution digital images or scans exist, a surrogate of the object must be made before the loan is dispatched.
This will be arranged automatically by the Registrar’s Office who will subsequently inform the Borrower of the cost in advance.
The cost will be invoiced by British Library Imaging Services.
Images for reproduction can be obtained from British Library Images Online. The borrower should in the first instance look on Images Online and then email the British Library Licensing team regarding any images not available and for any information on charges, licensing and copyright.
Filming is not permitted for commercial purposes.
Permission to film for promotional or educational purposes must be sought, in advance, from the Registrar’s Office.
The Borrower may not make news of an upcoming loan public in the media, events or on social media, until agreed with the British Library.
All media announcements relating to a loan should be sent to the British Library for review and approval before publication.
Where an object has not been published and is then published or displayed to the public by the borrower, all publication rights will be assigned back to the British Library.
If the loan is cancelled, for whatever reason, all reasonable costs will be borne by the borrower.
Registrar’s Office: RegistrarsOffice@bl.uk
British Library Licensing: Licensing@bl.uk
The British Library is able to offer protection from seizure under Part 6 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, which provides immunity from seizure for cultural objects that are loaned from overseas to temporary public exhibitions in approved museums or galleries in the UK where conditions are met when the object enters the UK.
The conditions are:
If you require additional information, please contact us at registrarsoffice@bl.uk.
Reports for the following exhibitions have been published, requesting immunity from seizure for the listed objects: Medieval Women: In Their Own Words (PDF, 298.2KB).