British Library On Demand closes for May bank holiday

Open access

The UK’s May Day bank holiday is Monday 7 May this year, so most On Demand services will stop from 02.00 on 5 May to when we re-open at 08.00 on 8 May.

Published date:

Monday 7 May is a public holiday in the UK, so the British Library’s site in Boston Spa, Yorkshire will be closed. This includes the processing of British Library On Demand orders from our physical collections and third-party suppliers and our Customer Services team. This closure will be reflected in the dispatch dates estimated by our online ordering interface.

You will still be able to order items from our electronic stores for immediate download.

If we receive your order after 02:00 BST on Saturday 5 May, we won’t start processing it until we reopen on Tuesday 8 May at 08:00 BST. This includes orders with 2-hour and 24-hour delivery speeds. Any 2-hour or 24-hour orders that we receive after 02:00 on 5 May will be timed from 08:00 on 8 May.

The British Library’s Reading Room in Boston Spa will also be closed on Monday 07 May, closing on Friday 4 May at 16.30 and reopening at 09.00 on Tuesday 8 May.

For further information, please contact our Customer Service team



News stories

RMS collection embargo

8 March 2022

We're enhancing our storage facilities in Boston Spa and some of our collections are being moved to enable this work. As a result, some of the items you requested might not be available while they're being moved.

Case studies

…Working with the British Library has been the best co-operative development I’ve ever experienced…

Jennifer Perkins from Clio tells us why her customers have seen a 75% reduction in failed requests since they integrated their Interlibrary Loans software with British Library On Demand

…British Library On Demand is a major pillar in our strategy, without it we couldn’t provide the service we do…

For the University of Sheffield, British Library On Demand does more than just supply articles. Their relationship with the British Library enables them to come good on their core promise to students and researchers.