For more than four centuries, Legal Deposit has empowered leading UK and Irish libraries to collect an unparalleled record of our intellectual and cultural heritage, available to current and future generations of researchers, now and forever.
In 2013 these powers were extended to encompass digital publications including e-books, e-journals and the entire .uk web domain.
In April this year the six legal deposit libraries of the UK and Ireland, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the Bodleian Libraries, Cambridge University Library and the Library of Trinity College Dublin, are celebrating ten years of collecting and preserving digital publications.
The Legal Deposit libraries are seeking your help to create a User Forum to represent the interests of all existing and potential users of UK Legal Deposit (print and non-print). This is a fantastic opportunity to amplify the user voice, highlight different user needs and perspectives, communicate these to the Legal Deposit libraries and influence the design and development of the service.
The Legal Deposit Libraries Reader Services Committee is currently chaired by Peter Dudley at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). TCD have compiled a comprehensive guide to Legal Deposit and the User Forum:
This excellent guide includes details to help you decide if you’d like to become a member of the User Forum, such as the aims and scope of the Forum, and the benefits of membership.
If you would like to register your interest in becoming a member of the Legal Deposit User Forum, please e-mail LDUserForum@nls.uk, and a representative from Cambridge University Libraries will contact you to discuss it further.