More British Library services
Information about British Library services, including Public Lending Right (PLR) and legal deposit.
We're continuing to experience a major technology outage as a result of a cyber-attack and will update information about our systems and services as they become available.
Latest information about our Reading Rooms and collections is available here.
Public Lending Right (PLR) service
Published authors, illustrators, editors, translators and audiobook narrators receive remuneration as a result of public library book loans when they’re registered for Public Lending Right (PLR).
PLR payments
We can confirm that payments have been made for both the UK PLR year 2022/23 and the Irish PLR year 2022.
Registering for PLR
New users can now register for PLR. Existing users can also access their online accounts again.
Legal deposit
Legal deposit is the statutory obligation to deposit at least one copy of every publication from the UK and Ireland, free of charge, at the British Library and other designated deposit libraries.
We are currently unable to receive digital legal deposit content via the publisher submission portal. Publishers who want to upload their titles via the portal are advised to contact the Digital Processing Team at the British Library by emailing LDO-Electronic@bl.uk, who will be happy to advise on alternative deposit options.
The Digital Processing Team will also forward requests from Scottish and Welsh publishers to their national deposit libraries, and requests from Irish publishers to the Library of Trinity College Dublin.
For those publishers who do not have an agreement to deposit digitally we are still accepting print legal deposit. To send us your publication, please post a copy to:
Legal Deposit Office
The British Library
Boston Spa
Wetherby
LS23 7BY
United Kingdom
Publishing
British Library Publishing actively publish from our collection to bring forgotten stories and original non-fiction to new audiences. Find out more about stocking our books.
Commercial venue hire
You can hire our spaces for a range of business and corporate events. We have flexible spaces for conferences and meetings, or you can transform our iconic spaces within the main Library for private evening events.
Digitisation
Whether you're an organisation that wants to share your physical archive with the digital world, or a researcher that needs a closer look at our treasures, we’re here to help. Find out more about our digitisation services.
Collection metadata services
Are you a librarian who needs to keep abreast of UK forthcoming publications? Or a publisher requiring an ISSN for a new publication? If so, find out more about our metadata and identifier services.
Contact us
Please email customer@bl.uk (08.30 - 16.30 Monday to Friday).
Our telephone service is currently unavailable, apologies for any inconvenience.