The Cinderella Collections History of Official Publications Collections

The Cinderella Collections: History of Official Publications Collections in the British Library Jeremy Jenkins Official Publications and government information in the libraries of the Republic of Croatia, National and University Library Conference, Pula, Croatia 24 th-25 th May 2012

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British Library overview Founded 1753 installed in Montagu House, Gt. Russell St. British Library Act of Parliament 1973. Brought together: §British Museum Library including manuscripts; §National Reference Library for science and invention; §National Central Library; §National Lending Library; § 1982 India Office Collections; § 1984 National Sound Archive. 3

British Library Act 1972 “This Act shall establish a national Library for the United Kingdom…consisting of a comprehensive collection of books, manuscripts, films and or recorded matter whether printed or otherwise …formed part of the collections I the Museum’s Department of Printed Books, Department of Manuscripts and Department of Oriental Printed Books Manuscripts. ” 4

Collections 150, 000 Total Items 13, 950, 000 Books 824, 101 Serial Titles 351, 116 Manuscripts (Single and Volumes) 8, 266, 276 Philatelic Items 4, 347, 505 Cartographic Items 1, 607, 885 Music Scores 3, 000 Sound Recordings 5

Foundations of the Exchange Programme Complex and chequered history : 1832 - First mention of an Exchange of Official Publications Pre 1880 – British Museum acquired material in 3 ways § Legal deposit & Colonial Copyright § Purchase § Donation 6

Agreement of the 30 October 1882 “…was in favour of exchanges to enable the British Museum and British government departments to obtain foreign official publications which they needed. ” 7

The Types of Material Covered by Exchanges 1. Papers printed or presented to either house of Parliament; 2. Historical , scientific, or antiquarian works published by the Government; 3. Maps or charts, published by Government; 4. Departmental publications which are placed for sale. 8

Exchange of Official Publications 1882: Canada; United States, 1883: New Zealand, Tasmania, France, Netherlands; Italy. , 1885: Queensland; 1886: Victoria; 1887: Norway Pre 1887: Cape Colony, Chile. 1894: 1904: Australia (Commonwealth of), Sweden; 1905: Newfoundland; 1908: Western Australia; 1911: Denmark; 1913: South Africa; 1923: Finland; 1926: Southern Rhodesia; 1935: South Australia; 1936: Portugal; 1939: Greece. New South Wales, 9

Purchased or Presented late 19 th Century France; Germany; Bavaria; The Netherlands; Belgium; Italy; Spain; and Hungary. Prussia; Austria, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, and Switzerland 10

Responsibility for Exchanges Treasury 1882 -1919 HM Stationary Office 1920 -1972 British Library 1973 - 11

Exchange items received pre-1965 12

Exchange Position in 1972 Complete reciprocal exchanges of all official publications on both sides. U. S. S. R. , U. S. A. , France, Canada, New Zealand, Australia. Incomplete exchanges including all significant material, East and West Germany, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and India. Exchanges with smaller countries which sent all their significant publications received only a selection of the British output, e. g. Nigeria, Kenya, Luxembourg, etc. (some twenty or more countries). 13

How the Collections Grew: Deposit and Exchange UK Legal Deposit – comprehensive n Undermined by fragmentation of official publishing from 1970 s n Challenge of move to web publishing n Impact of e-legal deposit Colonial legal deposit – selective n Replaced by exchange/donation post independence n Now moving to purchase where possible n Serious supply problems from developing countries Exchange n Expanded after World war II n Cut back in early 1990 s n Switch to purchase of key series n Now moving to electronic exchange agreements Deposited Archives n Lord Robert Cecil’s papers – British representative at negotiation of Treaty of Versailles n King George III Library - Official Publications included in the Foundations Collections 14

How the Collections Are Growing: Selection Guidelines We Collect: § Parliamentary proceedings and papers; § Development plans; § Primary legislation (official version); § Official gazettes; § Census; § Key statistical series. 15

Social Sciences Collection Guides http: //www. bl. uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/offpubs/guides/govtguides. html 16

Union List of Holdings Flare works to improve the coverage and accessibility of foreign legal materials at the national level and to raise expertise in their use. http: //ials. sas. ac. uk/flare_fog_unionlist_europe. htm 17

Official Publications Pressmarks post 1945 § A. S. 64/45 for the United States and so on. § B. S. 42/193 British § C. S. A. 45/11 European material § C. S. 109/ 21 Colonial and Commonwealth § L. A. S. 7/34 Latin American § S. 12/10 Other Official Publications, subdivided geographically § U. N. A. For International Organisations Publications 18

New pressmarks Official Publications Library § O. P. L. 326. 4216 Replacing : § S. P. R. Ref. A. 12. § S. P. R. 3/1/4 § S. Ref. S. P. R. is still in use for Microfilm collections. § 2007 EU. 310 – General Statistics 19

Shelfmarks 20

European Documentation Centre Collection The BL has: Activity collected EU material since it’s formation in the 1950 s. Manly through donation; § After the UK became a member in 1973 we received 2 sets of documentation from then EEC; § In 1982 this became one set due to a cost cutting exercise; § By 2007 the BL gained EDC status and it inherited the Westminster Public Library’s collection. § 21

As an EDC § Open access collection located in the Social Sciences Reading Room; § Coverage of 10 years arrange by Dewey with an EU prefix; § After 10 years items are turned out of the EDC to the DSC collection or de-accessioned and disposed; § Online and print version of Subjects covered in the EDC Collection; § A Collection Guide in Print and PDF covering the BL’s EU collections. 22

European Union Collections Web pages Intute RSS feed Find help by subject: Social Sciences Find help by resource type: Official Publications European Union subject page European Documentation Centre resource page EU-US relations guide EU Elections 2009 Lisbon Treaty EU Information online EU Resource Guide EDC subject classification guide 23

How the Collections are Growing: in the digital age § Governments & IGOs are moving from print to web-only publishing; § Governments & IGOs are digitising key series retrospectively and disseminating them via the Internet; § Where print is still produced it is very expensive; § The BL is moving from owning content to linking to key series on the web; § BL is exploring digital document exchange – EU pilot. 24

2020 Vision “Continue the transition to collecting and connecting by establishing collaborative stewardship arrangements with other national libraries and memory institutions. ” http: //www. bl. uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/2020 vision/2020 A 3. pdf 25

Conclusion -Hvala Vam- Questions and Comments Jeremy Jenkins Curator International Organisations & North American Official Collections. British Library Jerry. Jenkins@bl. uk +44 (0)20 7412 7743 Twitter: @BLInt. Orgs 26