Legal deposit for UK self-published books: what the law asks and how to do it

If you publish a printed book in the UK, the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 asks you to send one copy to the British Library within a month of publication, at your own expense, and to send up to five more copies to the other legal deposit libraries if they ask for them. That applies to a self-published paperback printed on demand through Amazon or IngramSpark just as it applies to a Penguin hardback. The Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries, which acts for the other five libraries, says publication means issuing copies to the public, that it makes no difference whether you sell them or give them away, and that you do not need an ISBN for the duty to apply.

The practical version is short. Post one copy to the British Library's Legal Deposit Office at Boston Spa without waiting to be asked. If the Agency in Edinburgh writes to you, send it five copies within a month. If your book exists only as an ebook, email the British Library's electronic deposit team instead.

What the Act asks

Section 1 of the Act says a person who publishes a work in the United Kingdom must deliver a copy to each deposit library that is entitled to it, at their own expense. Section 4 gives the British Library a copy of every printed work, delivered within one month beginning with the day of publication, and of the same quality as the best copies produced for publication. Section 5 lets the other five libraries request a copy in writing, up to twelve months after publication, and you then have a month from the request to deliver it. Those five are the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales and the Library of Trinity College Dublin.

Section 2 adds two limits. A work that is substantially the same as one already published in the same medium does not have to be deposited again, so an unchanged reprint is not a second deposit. Where the same work appears in more than one medium, the duty applies to only one of them, and the Agency's guidance is to deposit print unless you have a confirmed agreement to deposit electronically.

The British Library's page says the duty applies to anyone publishing in the UK and Ireland regardless of content, format or language, and the National Library of Scotland's guide says the Act reaches from large publishers to local societies and individuals. None of the official pages we read mentions print on demand by name. A paperback a reader can order from Amazon has been issued to the public, and the Agency's FAQ says an ISBN is not what decides it.

Ebooks and the non-print regulations

The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013 extended the system to works published in a format other than print. For an author, the Agency's FAQ and the National Library of Scotland set out the same rule: an electronic publication must be deposited if it is produced only electronically, or if you have agreed with the libraries to deposit electronically. One electronic copy satisfies all six libraries, including the British Library. So an ebook-only author has a duty to deposit, and an author with a paperback and an ebook of the same book deposits the paperback.

As of 1 November 2026 the British Library's page says its publisher portal and file transfer routes are unavailable following the cyber-attack of October 2023, and asks publishers to contact the Digital Processing team at LDO-Electronic@bl.uk, which can accept smaller files by email. Scottish publishers deposit electronic files with the National Library of Scotland instead, at acq@nls.uk.

How to do it, in order

1. Order one copy of the finished paperback. The Act asks for the same quality as the best copies on sale, so an author copy from the same printer is right and a proof marked "not for resale" is not.
2. Post it, within a month of the publication date, to: Legal Deposit Office, The British Library, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7BY. The British Library's page says you do not need to wait for a claim letter, and that it is not currently issuing receipts.
3. Keep the postage receipt and note the date in your book's records. With receipts suspended, that is your evidence.
4. If the Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries writes to you, send five copies within a month of the request to: Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries, Unit 21 Marnin Way, Edinburgh, EH12 9GD. The Agency's FAQ confirms you still owe these five even though you have already sent one to the British Library, because the two operations are separate. Nielsen's notes for publishers say you only need to send copies to the Agency if asked.
5. If you publish in hardback as well as paperback, each is a separate printed work and the British Library is entitled to a copy of each.
6. If the book is ebook only, email LDO-Electronic@bl.uk, describe the title, and follow their instructions for sending the EPUB or PDF. That one deposit covers all six libraries.
7. Repeat for every new title.

What it costs you

Nobody pays you for the copies or the postage. The Agency's FAQ says deposit is free of charge to the libraries, and section 1 of the Act puts the expense on the publisher. For a print-on-demand author that is one author copy plus postage, and five more copies plus postage if the Agency asks. If you buy author copies for signings anyway, add one to the first order.

What happens if you do not

Section 3 of the Act is the enforcement section. A deposit library may apply to the county court, or to the sheriff in Scotland, for an order requiring you to comply. If you cannot comply, or the court decides an order is not appropriate, it can instead order you to pay the library an amount not more than the cost of making good the failure. There is no criminal offence and no fixed fine in the Act. The British Library also says it is not sending claims at the moment. The duty is still the law, and it costs you one book and a stamp.

Legal deposit also puts your book in the six libraries' catalogues, which is where researchers find it decades on. It does not register you for Public Lending Right, which is a separate British Library scheme, and it is not the same as registering your ISBN and title data with Nielsen. Our ISBN article covers that step, and the steps to self-publishing show where both sit in the order of a launch.

Sources: the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 on legislation.gov.uk, the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013, the British Library legal deposit page, the Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries FAQ, the National Library of Scotland guide for publishers and Nielsen's notes for publishers, all read on 1 November 2026.