As soon as you create your manuscript, copyright attaches to your work (assuming it is original). However, for additional comfort that no one else will copy your work, many authors choose to register their books with institutions and governmental bodies or simply mail their mauscript to themselves using registered mail. |
If you want to use something (such as a picture, quoted material or other text) that you have not personally created, it is probable that it is protected by copyright in favour of the person who originally created and/or published the material. To give you another example, any text or pictures found in a book, magazine or newspaper is copyright protected by the publisher, artist, photographer or other individual. If this is the case, you are required by our Terms and Conditions to ensure you have all permissions to use such text or pictures or not include it in your work. |
Legal deposit is the act of depositing published material in designated libraries or archives. Publishers and distributors in the United Kingdom and in Ireland have a legal obligation to deposit published material in the six legal deposit libraries, which collectively maintain the national published archive of the British lsles. These are (in no particular order): The British Library; The Bodleian Library, Oxford; The University Library, Cambridge; The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; The Library of Trinity College, Dublin; and The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
The principle of legal deposit has been well established for almost four centuries and has great advantages for authors and publishers. Publications deposited with the libraries are made available to users in their reading rooms, are preserved for the benefit of future generations, and become part of the national heritage. In the United Kingdom, the Copyright Act of 1911 and, in Ireland, the Copyright and Related Rights Bill of 1999 make it obligatory for publishers and distributors in the United Kingdom and Ireland to deposit their publications. Publications are recorded in the online catalogues of the six legal deposit libraries, all of which are accessible on the internet and will remain essential research tools for generations to come. Most of the books and new serial titles are listed in the British National Bibliography (BNB), which is used by librarians and the book trade for stock selection. All the legal deposit libraries contribute to BNB, which is available in printed, CD-ROM and online formats and has a world-wide distribution. Within the terms of the Copyright Acts, a 'publisher' is to be understood as anyone who issues or distributes publications to the public.
Publications destined for the British Library (www.bl.uk/) should be sent to:, Legal Deposit Office,
The British Library,
Boston Spa,
Wetherby,
LS23 7BY. The other five legal deposit libraries employ an agent to collect publications on their behalf (www.llgc.org.uk/cla). Publications and enquiries should be addressed to: Agent for the Deposit Libraries,
161 Causewayside,
Edinburgh,
EH9 1PH. Irish publishers should send material destined for the five libraries to: Irish Copyright Agency,
c/o Trinity College Library,
College Street,
Dublin 2. |
