1 UNITED KINGDOM SERIALS GROUP CONFERENCE UMIST, 31 MARCH 2004 THE LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES ACT 2003 Dr Clive Field Director of Scholarship and Collections The British Library
2 OVERVIEW History of Legal Deposit in the UK since 1610 Build-up to Legislation, Parliamentary Process in 2002/3 Provisions of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act Implementing the Legal Deposit Libraries Act Conclusions
3 HISTORY OF LEGAL DEPOSIT IN THE UK SINCE 1610 (1) Stationers’ Company agrees to deposit at Bodleian Library of one copy of all new publications registered at Stationers’ Hall Press Licensing Act grants Royal Library one copy of all new publications Copyright Act accords legal deposit library status to nine libraries - Royal Library, Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library and six others (five in Scotland) Royal Library’s right passes to British Museum (and thus, in 1972, to British Library) Copyright Act accords legal deposit status to eleven libraries and tightens up regulations
4 HISTORY OF LEGAL DEPOSIT IN THE UK SINCE 1610 (2) Copyright Act reduces legal deposit libraries to five - British Museum, Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Faculty of Advocates, Trinity College Dublin Copyright Act adds National Library of Wales National Library of Scotland Act adds National Library of Scotland for Faculty of Advocates reciprocal deposit of UK and Irish publications introduced following creation of Irish Republic Theatres Act requires deposit of playscripts with British Library UK increasingly lagging behind other countries in only having statutory arrangements for print
5 BUILD-UP TO LEGISLATION, (1) January British Library and other legal deposit libraries present Proposal for the Legal Deposit of Non- Print Publications to the Department of National Heritage, seeking new primary legislation and subsidiary legislation through Regulations British Library Research and Development commissions and publishes series of studies looking at issues arising from such extension, especially in digital world (BL R&D Reports 6242, 6243, 6244, 6245) February Government publishes Legal Deposit of Publications: A Consultation Paper, affirming commitment to legislation and inviting views on options for extending legal deposit, and including compliance cost assessment by Deloitte and Touche
6 BUILD-UP TO LEGISLATION, (2) January Government publishes Legal Deposit of Publications: Summary of Responses to the Consultation Paper replies received January Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport establishes working party, chaired by Sir Anthony Kenny and including libraries and publishers, to investigate how legal deposit could be extended, while minimising burdens on publishers July Report of the Working Party on Legal Deposit concluded that, in longer term, only statutory scheme, through enabling legislation, would be adequate to secure comprehensive national published archive and set out general principles for such a system
7 BUILD-UP TO LEGISLATION, (3) December Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport responds to working party’s report in Parliamentary answer, accepting case for moving towards legislation but requesting voluntary code of practice and pilot scheme as interim measure January publishers and libraries commence work on drafting of voluntary scheme July publishers and libraries agree to establish Joint Committee on Voluntary Deposit September voluntary code of practice issued for ratification January voluntary code of practice for handheld (offline) publications commences
8 BUILD-UP TO LEGISLATION, (4) January first formal meeting of Joint Committee on Voluntary Deposit (JCVD) Relatively good rates of deposit of offline material and, increasingly, willingness of some publishers to deposit e- serial publications on voluntary basis, especially with British Library March British Library Domain UK: Interim Report on voluntary Web harvesting pilot April Government informs British Library of its intention to move towards legislation via Handout Bill April JCVD issues tender for study to assess costs and other quantifiable impacts of extension of legal deposit on publishers and libraries
9 BUILD-UP TO LEGISLATION, (5) June Electronic Publishing Services (EPS) Ltd awarded contract for study June British Library and Oxford University Library Services demonstrate proof of concept secure network to publishers to illustrate how offline material could be securely networked with restricted access from single-copy deposit offline material October publication of EPS report on The Impact of the Extension of Legal Deposit to Non-Print Publications - covers outputs to 2005 and develops models for calculating publisher and library costs, focusing mainly on electronic monographs and serials and microform - draws upon industry data, library data, and publisher questionnaires
10 PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS IN 2002/3 (1) 21 November outcome of Commons ballot for Private Members’ Bills - Chris Mole subsequently picks up extension of legal deposit as Handout Bill 11 December House of Commons presentation and first reading - Hansard (Commons), Vol. 396, col January first meeting of British Library campaign team, supported by Portcullis Research, masterminding parliamentary lobbying, external supporter influencing and media campaign from libraries’ side and meeting weekly throughout much of March Bill and House of Commons standing note published
11 PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS IN 2002/3 (2) 7 March routine meeting of JCVD surfaces immediate publisher concerns re preservation and access clauses of Bill - thereafter, Digital Content Forum (DCF) increasingly succeeds JCVD as representative publisher body 10 March Explanatory notes published 11 March Regulatory impact assessment published 14 March House of Commons second reading - Government Minister Kim Howells - Hansard (Commons), Vol. 401, col. 577
12 PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS IN 2002/3 (3) mid-March-late June extensive shuttle diplomacy between British Library, Government and publishers to resolve publisher concerns - generic publisher concerns about proportionality of burden and adequacy of consultation by Government - specific concerns from database and newspaper publishers 30 April joint submission to Government by libraries and DCF setting out thirteen principles of agreement 14 May Government response and undertakings to joint submission 4 June House of Commons Committee - amendments from Government and Opposition - Government Minister Kim Howells - Hansard (Commons), Standing Committee F, col. 3
13 PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS IN 2002/3 (4) 4 July House of Commons report stage and third reading - amendments from Government and Opposition - Government Minister Estelle Morris - Hansard (Commons), Vol. 408, col July House of Lords introduction - no debate - Hansard (Lords), Vol. 651, col. 12 August further shuttle diplomacy between British Library, Government and publishers to resolve publisher concerns 12 September House of Lords second reading - Government Minister Lord Evans - Hansard (Lords), Vol. 652, col October House of Lords Committee - no debate - Hansard (Lords), Vol. 653, col. 22
14 PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS IN 2002/3 (5) 13 October House of Lords third reading - no debate - Hansard (Lords), Vol. 653, col October final meeting of British Library campaign team 30 October Royal Assent given as Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 Chapter 28 - Hansard (Commons), Vol. 412, col. 415, Hansard (Lords), Vol. 654, col. 375 (ISBN ) 4 December British Library reception to thank publishers for support 15 December British Library reception at House of Commons to thank parliamentarians for support 1 January commencement
15 PROVISIONS OF THE LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES ACT (1) Explanatory Notes to Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 Chapter 28 - for full commentary Duty on publishers to deposit (s. 1) Voluntary arrangements for sound (British Library) and film (British Film Institute) implicitly continued (s. 1(5)) New and alternative editions - deposit restricted to one edition and one medium (s. 2) Enforcement - county court order to deposit or to make payment not exceeding cost of making good failure to comply (s. 3) Printed publications - carried over with only minor amendments from 1911 Act affecting British Library (s. 4) and five other libraries (s. 5)
16 PROVISIONS OF THE LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES ACT (2) Secretary of State enabled to make Regulations to extend to other non-print formats, offline and online (s. 6) Restrictions on activities by libraries in relation to non- print publications (s. 7) New consequential exceptions to Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 and Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997 (s. 8) Exemptions from liability for publishers in respect of breach of contract (s. 9) Exemptions from liability for publishers and libraries for defamation and provision for Web harvesting (s. 10) Restrictions on making of Regulations including publisher safeguards (s. 11)
17 PROVISIONS OF THE LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES ACT (3) Consultation with Scotland and Wales over Regulations (s. 12) Extension to Trinity College Dublin requires equivalence of protection of publisher interests under Irish law (s. 13) Matters of interpretation (s. 14) Consequential amendments, repeals and revocations (s. 15) Commencement and extent (s. 16) Short title (s. 17)
18 IMPLEMENTING THE LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES ACT (1) STATUTORY ROUTE I January print legal deposit starts to operate under new Act rather than Copyright Act November first tripartite meeting of Government, libraries and publishers on implementation, with special reference to establishment of Advisory Panel 3 February joint submission of libraries and publishers to Government on composition and terms of reference of Advisory Panel Government proposals on Advisory Panel awaited - formal public consultation required Advisory Panel expected to be appointed towards the very end of 2004, possibly as advisory Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB)
19 IMPLEMENTING THE LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES ACT (2) First task will probably be definition of what constitutes UK publication in non-print world First Regulation almost certainly likely to be offline publications VOLUNTARY ROUTE Voluntary scheme for offline continued throughout whole Parliamentary process and still ongoing JCVD not formally convened after 7 March 2003 meeting although continued to exist as online reporting and consultation group
20 IMPLEMENTING THE LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES ACT (3) June-October libraries and publishers discuss and agree expanded JCVD as interim body - membership enlarged to include eight publisher groupings and all legal deposit libraries 13 January first meeting of Joint Committee on Legal Deposit (JCLD) - membership, terms of reference and modus operandi agreed (ratified at second meeting on 22 March 2004) JCLD will undertake review of voluntary scheme for offline publications with view to early Regulation, will initiate discussion about definition of UK publication, will consider voluntary scheme for e-journals, and will track the UK Web Archiving Consortium (voluntary scheme for Web content)
21 CONCLUSIONS (1) Historic piece of legislation, especially for so large a publishing nation as UK Need to extend legislation as matter of principle never disputed by publishers nor by parliamentarians of all parties - genuine cross-party support Publishers were exercised about proportionality of burden, degree of access that would be permitted, and perceived inadequacy of consultation by Government Drafting and publication schedules for original Bill and subsequent amendments were certainly tight, for both publishers and libraries
22 CONCLUSIONS (2) Complex piece of legislation for Government, requiring consultation between Department for Culture, Media and Sport (principal owner of Act), Department for Trade and Industry, Patent Office and Department for Constitutional Affairs - also consultation with devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, Northern Ireland Office and with Irish Government Interfaces with existing copyright and database legislation especially complicated Ministerial assurances to publishers, on Parliamentary record, were probably almost as important as amendments in smoothing passage of Act
23 CONCLUSIONS (3) Sensitivities around future roles of National Library of Scotland, National Library of Wales and needs of Northern Ireland (where no legal deposit library) Despite inevitable differences of interest and emphasis, good working relations between publishers and libraries were maintained, even at most difficult stages of Parliamentary process - JCLD looks set to replicate constructive engagement which characterised JCVD Sustained and well-orchestrated lobbying and diplomacy by British Library on behalf of all legal deposit libraries were critical to success