Please see the Knowledge Matters blog for updates from the British Library following the cyber-attack in October 2023.
On 15th January 2024 the British Library made available a ‘read-only’ copy of the main catalogue of over 36 million records, including details of their printed books, journals, maps, music scores and rare books: British Library Interim Catalogue (exlibrisgroup.com). The British Library stipulate that, although you will be able to search for items as before, the process for checking availability and ordering them for use in the Reading Rooms will be different – further details are available here: Research resources currently available | The British Library
Our electronic Legal Deposit collection is a shared endeavour with the other UK Legal Deposit Libraries. Our access to this content is via the British Library and is currently not available. The British Library state that they anticipate restoring more services in the next few weeks, but disruption to certain services is now expected to persist for several months.
Access to other BL services including the UK Web Archive and inter-library requests are also impacted.
As you are aware, electronic Legal Deposit material is currently unavailable due the British Library outage. The publisher Taylor & Francis is the largest depositor of electronic Legal Deposit material and also the most accessed in this format. The Bodleian Libraries are pleased to announce that Taylor & Francis books and its other imprints (including Routledge and CRC Press) published from 2016-2025 (content added on publication) are now available on SOLO. Up to 35,000 Humanities and Social Sciences books will be available until December 2025. A selection will be made for permanent retention based on levels of usage and other criteria.
A ‘read-only’ version of the British Library catalogue is now available – it gives a snap-shot as of April 2023.
It is possible to access the majority of books and special collections held at the St Pancras site, with limited collection items available at Boston Spa. You’ll need to go on-site to order collection items, to confirm availability before you visit you can email bl_ref_services@bl.uk
The BL can only issue temporary reader tickets at the moment. If you already have a card and it needs renewing, this will probably be slightly easier than those who need to register for the first time. Contact customer@bl.uk if you need help but be prepared for a delayed response as our colleagues will be terrifically busy with enquiries.
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