Under the terms of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 and the Legal Deposit (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013 access to electronic legal deposit (eLD) material may only be provided to readers at a workstation “on library premises controlled by the deposit library”. Please note that electronic legal deposit books, journals and web content cannot be made available beyond the physical premises of Cambridge University Libraries under the terms of current legal deposit legislation.
Access is available to eLD material at computers within the main Reading Room and the Commonwealth Room within the University Library, and at affiliated Faculty and Department libraries.
It is possible to order printouts of a chapter or an article from material held as Electronic Legal Deposit. This material will be delivered in printed form only, and cannot be sent via email, although it can be posted to UK addresses. There is a charge of £2 per full printout, payable before collection or posting. You may submit a request here: Request a printout of material held as Electronic Legal Deposit | Cambridge University Library
Access may be available within the Affiliated Libraries below. Each library will have its own access arrangements, please check with the library you intend to use before visiting.
| Library | Access terminal available | Printing |
| African Studies | Yes | No |
| Archaeology and Anthropology (Haddon Library) | Yes | No |
| Architecture and History of Art | Yes | No |
| Asian and Middle Eastern Studies | Yes | Yes |
| Chemistry Library | Yes | Yes |
| Classics | Yes | No |
| Criminology (Radzinowicz Library) | Yes | Yes |
| Divinity | Yes | Yes |
| Economics (Marshall Library) | Yes | Yes |
| Education | Yes | Yes |
| Engineering | Yes | No |
| English | Yes | Yes |
| Geography | Yes | No |
| Genetics | Yes | No |
| History (Seeley Library) | Yes | Yes |
| Medical | Yes | Yes |
| MML | Yes | No |
| Moore | Yes | Yes |
| Music (Pendlebury Library) | Yes | Yes |
| Philosophy (Casimir Lewy Library) | Yes | Yes |
| Physics (Rayleigh Library) | Yes | Yes |
| Physiology, Development and Neuroscience | Yes | Yes |
| Plant Sciences | Yes | No |
| Psychology library | Yes | Yes |
| Social and Political Sciences | Yes | Yes |
| South Asian Studies | Yes | No |
| Squire Law Library | Yes | Yes |
| Veterinary Medicine | Yes | Yes |
| West Hub | Yes | Yes* |
| Whipple | Yes | Yes |
| Zoology (Balfour & Newton Libraries) | Yes | Yes |
*University members only
Access is not permitted via any other device connected to the University network or off-campus. Nor can designated PCs be installed in other Cambridge libraries, including college libraries, as these are not “controlled by the deposit library”.
To access eLD material via a designated PC first read the “Terms and Conditions” and, if in agreement, click to “Accept conditions and continue”.
Then enter search terms in the basic iDiscover search box. On the designated PCs a default filter is set to limit a search to “Electronic Legal Deposit” material.
To view the text of an item either click on the phrase “Online access restricted to designated PCs in the main UL + affiliated libraries” in the brief catalogue record
or open the full record and click on the link under “View Online”.
Please note that eLD journal articles are indexed at article level and should be searched for by author and/or article title. It is not currently possible to search for a journal title and browse articles within it. The “Online access” links in catalogue records for eLD journals are disabled.
For information about maps see here or contact staff in the University Library’s Map Room (email maps@lib.cam.ac.uk, tel.: 01223 (3)33041 or (3)33042.
Only one concurrent user is permitted to access a given eLD item via any of the designated PCs throughout Cambridge libraries. However, if a session is inactive for five minutes, it will time out and another user will shortly afterwards be able to access the same item.
If the default “Electronic Legal Deposit” filter is cancelled, a search will also retrieve records for non-eLD material, but links to subscription electronic resources will not work. These may be consulted via any other computer connected to the University network or off-campus by current staff and students using their Raven login.