Your publications will be available in the Reading Rooms of the British Library and the other UK legal deposit libraries. Publications can be discovered using our catalogues.

How people find your publications

Catalogue records for deposited works can be searched online through Library catalogues, such as Explore the British Library. Material collected from the web can be discovered using our UK Web Archive.

How people access your publications

Access is on the premises of the six legal deposit libraries.

Access to electronic (“non-print”) publications collected under legal deposit is controlled by the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013. These regulations describe how the works can be accessed and also describe any restrictions.

At the British Library, access to electronic publications is from PCs in our public Reading Rooms. A Reader Pass is required for access.

Restrictions on access

Only one reader can access the same electronic publication (same relevant material) at the same time. For these purposes, the term “same relevant material” is used to refer to the manner in which the publication was deposited or is made available to users. For example, it may refer to a single e-book or a single journal article.

Electronic publications are not made available until at least seven days after they have been deposited or collected from the web.

Copying and printing

Digital copies cannot be made from electronic publications collected under legal deposit.

Readers can print out one copy of a reasonable portion of any deposited work, for non-commercial research or other defined purposes such as criticism and review or journalism. Extra copies may be printed for use in court proceedings or statutory enquiries.