(Fwd) The British Library and Legal Deposit

["Stefanie Hundsberger" <shundsbe _at__ fs1.li.man.ac.uk>]

Die folgende soeben in lis-link erschienende Meldung mag auch in 
Deutschland von Interesse sein.

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     Dear colleagues

     You may have seen recent correspondence in the Guardian and
     elsewhere suggesting that the British Library has been discarding
     unique material received under Legal Deposit.  The following
     message is to reassure the library community that nothing of the
     kind has been taking place.

     Tom French
     Head of Modern British Collections
     The British Library
     96 Euston Road
     London
     NW1 2DB
     England

     Tel: 020 7412 7623
     Fax: 020 7412 7557
     Email: tom.french _at__ bl.uk

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     The British Library and Legal Deposit

     Recent press articles have given the impression that the British
     Library has implemented a major change in policy and is no longer
     collecting and retaining all British material that is received by
     legal deposit.

     This is not true.   There has been no change of policy.  The
     Library has never discarded publications received by legal
     deposit and will not do so.    

     The position was explained in a letter from David Bradbury,
     Director General, Collections and Services, in a letter in the
     Guardian, 14 August:

     May I reassure your readers and British publishers that the
     British Library has not junked any rare books; that there has
     been no change of policy; that we have never discarded
     publications received under legal deposit; and that we have no
     intention of doing so.

     The correspondence between the British Library and one of our
     readers which led to your reports and letters related to our
     disposal some 10 years ago of large quantities of US Government
     publications which the Library had acquired in the 40s and 50s.
     These publications are all archived in the US.

     For the last 20 years we have been more selective about the
     acquisition of publications of foreign governments, because they
     are very expensive to store, process and preserve and because we
     would rather use our acquisition funds for material which we
     believe to be of far greater value to researchers.


     David Bradbury
     Director-General, Collections and Services

Stefanie Hundsberger
John Rylands University Library of Manchester
Manchester
England
s.hundsberger _at__ man.ac.uk