Legal Deposit, which has existed in English law since 1662, ensures that the published output of the UK and Ireland is collected, preserved and made available for present and future generations. Regulations came into force on the 6 April 2013 to extend Legal Deposit to materials published electronically. Cambridge University Libraries, along with the five other UK Legal Deposit libraries, share the infrastructure for electronic Legal Deposit (eLD) publications. 

At the end of October 2023, the British Library was subject to a major cyber-attack, which disrupted access to eLD content. A large-scale exercise was subsequently undertaken to check the integrity of the vast core eLD dataset. This led to the development of a new secure interface, or ‘player’, for accessing eLD content collected prior to October 2023 (excluding the UK Web Archive, which remains unavailable). 

As part of the regulations, the content of eLD can only be access on library premises. The eLD player is now installed on dedicated terminals across Cambridge University libraries, to find out where please look here. The new eLD player is an interim solution with limited functionality; for example, some of the tools and icons do not work properly. Restoring access was deemed necessary despite these shortcomings. Fortunately, a project is underway to develop an improved version of the player. More information will be shared in due course. In the meantime, this online guide and printable version below provide a detailed overview of the new interim player, with a special focus on core functions such as searching, navigation, printing and citation.