The Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries (formerly known as the Copyright Libraries Agency) acts as on behalf of five of the legal deposit libraries defined in United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland law to obtain copies of material published and distributed in those countries.
The current Agency came into existence on 2 March 2009 and is based at the Causewayside Building at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. It replaced a previous agency of the same name which was based at 100 Euston Street, London.
The Agency acts on behalf of the Bodleian Library, the Cambridge University Library, the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, the National Library of Wales and the National Library of Scotland. These five libraries, designated as legal deposit libraries under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 and Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, are entitled to request a free copy of any material published in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland within twelve months of its publication.
The Agency submits requests to publishers on behalf of the libraries. Publishers are then responsible for sending copies of materials directly to the five individual libraries, or to the Agency, for redistribution. Many publishers submit copies of works to the Agency in advance of receiving a request. Libraries may also submit requests directly to publishers. Formerly, the Agency's British office for receipt of material was located in London and was supported by Cambridge University, but constraints on space led to a need for relocation, and on 2 March 2009 the Agency officially moved to the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. Material originating in Ireland is forwarded via the Trinity College Library, Dublin, to Edinburgh.
The Agency does not act on behalf of the British Library, which has a special status under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 and Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, meaning it is entitled to receive copies of published materials automatically, without needing to request them. The British Library maintains its own Legal Deposit Office to handle receipt of materials submitted to them. For similar reasons the Agency does not act for the National Library of Ireland, the library of the University of Limerick, the library of Dublin City University or the libraries of the National University of Ireland; however, these libraries are only automatically entitled to material published in Ireland.
Famous quotes containing the words agency, legal and/or deposit:
“It is possible that the telephone has been responsible for more business inefficiency than any other agency except laudanum.... In the old days when you wanted to get in touch with a man you wrote a note, sprinkled it with sand, and gave it to a man on horseback. It probably was delivered within half an hour, depending on how big a lunch the horse had had. But in these busy days of rush-rush-rush, it is sometimes a week before you can catch your man on the telephone.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“In ‘70 he married again, and I having, voluntarily, assumed the legal guilt of breaking my marriage contract, do cheerfully accept the legal penalty—a life of celibacy—bringing no charge against him who was my husband, save that he was not much better than the average man.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“A real life, a life that leaves a deposit in the shape of something alive.... It’s difficult to say what makes a life a real life.... You could also say it depends on a person being identical with himself.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)