Legal deposit explained

Legal deposit is a law that requires publishers in the UK and Ireland to give copies of their publications to certain libraries. These libraries keep the materials safe for public access and research, and to preserve the history, culture and knowledge of the UK and Ireland for the future.

There are six legal deposit libraries in the UK and Ireland:

• National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow

• Bodleian Library, Oxford

• Cambridge University Library, Cambridge

• Trinity College, Dublin

• National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth

• The British Library, London and Boston Spa

Each library receives a copy of all UK and Irish print publications and share access to the electronic content that is deposited.

Through legal deposit legislation, we also collect UK web content and provide access to millions of archived UK websites and other electronic material.

Legal deposit material can help with your professional or personal research, your creative projects or your business, and stimulate new ideas.

See our  Legal deposit for publishers guide for more information on how this legislation impacts publishers.

Legal deposit is the foundation of the National Library of Scotland's collections, starting back in 1710 and continuing to grow, with thousands of items added to the collections each week. Collecting through legal deposit is the reason for the depth and breadth of our collections.

You can access print legal deposit content by visiting the Library in Edinburgh, and access electronic legal deposit at our Edinburgh and Glasgow premises. Registration is free and open to all. Further information is available in our guide to using the collections in person.

2023 British Library cyber-attack

Legal deposit collection is a shared endeavour with the other legal deposit libraries, especially in relation to electronic legal deposit. In October 2023 the British Library experienced a large cyber-attack which disrupted collecting and access to large parts of electronic legal deposit content. Ongoing restoration of access is explained on the British Library's website, with further information here in the following sections.

Printed material

Printed material includes books, journals, maps, and newspapers going back centuries. You can access printed legal deposit material by visiting the reading rooms in Edinburgh. Material is available for reference and cannot be taken out of the reading rooms.

Electronic Legal deposit material

You can access electronic legal deposit material from the Library's reading rooms in Edinburgh and Glasgow via the main catalogue.

Access to pre-October 2023 content has been restored, access to post-October material remains disrupted.

There is no limit to the number of electronic items that you can access in a day or how long you can consult an item, but only one person at a time can view an electronic item.

Scottish non-commercially published eBook and eJournal content has continued to be collected following the cyber-attack and is openly available via the catalogue. You do not need to be using Library computers and can access this content online from anywhere.

This material includes content published by government bodies and agencies, charities, community organisations and academic institutions. Due to backlogs some content may not be available yet.

Access to post-October 2023 Scottish commercially published content continues to be disrupted due to the cyber-attack.

Archived websites

The Library works with the other legal deposit libraries to archive Scottish and UK websites and web content. A whole-domain crawl takes place on an annual basis, supplemented with selective harvesting across the year. Archived websites are available on the UK Web Archive portal on the Library's premises via our public access computers. Where a website owner has granted permission, access will also be available from anywhere.

Web content has continued to be collected after the 2023 cyber-attack. However, access to the web archive is not currently available.

Electronic legal deposit maps

The collection and access of electronic legal deposit maps and datasets has not been affected by the cyber-attack. You can access these through the Legal Deposit Map Portal onsite on Library computers.

Content not included in the 2013 regulations

• Private messages on social media platforms such as X and Facebook.

• Pure audio or video content, such as audio CDs, film DVDs, or platforms such as YouTube or Spotify.

You can make copies of printed material within the bounds of copyright legislation and can print from electronic material within the same restrictions.

Anyone viewing an electronic item needs to accept the terms and conditions governing use of the material. We monitor printing to ensure there are no contraventions of the copyright regulations.

You are not allowed to download or use cameras to make copies from electronic legal deposit material.

If you have an enquiry about legal deposit, contact us via the website, phone, or letter. If you are a publisher or organisation looking to send us your publications please email the Acquisitions Team at acq@nls.uk.