UK Print Book Collection

The UK Print Book Collection is a national distributed collection of print monographs, securing access to content now and for the future

The UK PBC is a shared service supported by RLUK, SCONUL, and the British Library and is underpinned by the National Bibliographic Knowledgebase operated by Jisc. Funding from AHRC has also supported this programme. The service is administered by the British Library.

The UK PBC relies on member libraries working together to retain sufficient copies across the nation to preserve access to content.

Full list of members

Our objectives

Working together to develop a national collection the objectives of the UK PBC are to:

  • Protect the value of our national print collections

  • Preserve access to print books at a national level

  • Provide reliable access to scarce print material

  • Inform decision making in relation to collection management activities

  • Facilitate efficient and responsible use of library spaces

A girl picks out a yellow book from a library book stack.

Why you should join us

You will be playing an important role in fulfilling the national objectives, while also being able to make confident local collection management decisions which will facilitate more effective use of finite space, and other resources.

The success of the UK PBC depends on as many libraries as possible signing up to supporting a national distributed collection of monographs based on a minimum number of 7 retained copies across the member libraries.

The collection is based on library records held in Jisc’s National Bibliographic KnowledgeBase, the NBK (which drives Jisc’s Library Hub Discover and Compare). Currently 202 libraries are contributing to the over 160 million records in the NBK, including national libraries, copyright libraries, libraries across higher education and specialist libraries.

This national level data provided allows us to maximise the value of the national collection and to take a distributed approach to the safeguarding of material for future library users.

Membership

Any Higher Education and specialist library in the UK is welcome to join the UK PBC. There is no fee. The only prerequisite is that you will need to contribute your bibliographic data to the NBK and undertake to refresh it regularly (support is available for any libraries needing assistance).

You will be asked to register with the British Library and sign up to a Memorandum of Understanding to demonstrate your commitment and there are three membership options.

Participating member

Will be asked to check holdings against national holdings as expressed in the NBK when stock editing print books.

Where NBK holdings indicate that their print copy is one of 7 or fewer held amongst libraries with records in the NBK, these libraries undertake to retain this book, or, as a last resort, offer it to a receiving library.

Retaining member

In addition to the responsibilities of Participating members, Retaining members agree to upload retention statements to the bibliographic records associated with those copies identified as one of 7 or fewer held amongst libraries with records in the NBK. They may also choose to upload retention statements to those copies that they intend to retain beyond the requirements of the UK PBC.

Receiving member

In addition to the responsibilities of Participating and Retaining members, Receiving members agree to consider accepting print books from other libraries.

Any shipping costs will be borne by the library transferring copies, and any copies transferred will be owned by the Receiving member.

Governance

The UK PBC is overseen by a Governing Board, consisting of key representatives from the library communities, including mission groups, and those providing technical and administrative infrastructure, including Jisc and the British Library.

The current members of the Governing Board are:

Catriona Cannon (Chair)

University of London

Ann Rossiter

SCONUL representative

Andy Appleyard 

British Library representative

Azhar Hussain

Jisc representative

Jane Saunders 

RLUK CSN Print Storage group representative

Ruth Livesey

Academic representative

Theo Stubbs

SCONUL representative

David Prosser

RLUK representative

Joanna Little

Programme Manager

Other attendees may attend, or be co-opted, at the discretion of the Chair in support of specific agenda items.

The terms of reference of the Board are to:

  • Ensure the UK PBC plays a key role in safeguarding and sustaining the national distributed collection of print monographs alongside other initiatives, such as the UKRR.
  • Review annually the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding.
  • Review the progress of the UK PBC in meeting its objectives, including reviewing reports on key metrics.
  • Propose and consider further development of the UK PBC to respond to changing needs in the sector and to take advantage of new opportunities to collectively preserve and provide access to UK book collections in all formats.
  • Periodically review its own performance, objectives, ways of working and terms of reference to ensure it is operating at maximum effectiveness.
  • Be an advocate for the UK PBC.

Launch

The UK PBC is now live. If you wish to join the UK PBC, please email ukpbc@bl.uk. They will send you the Memorandum of Understanding to complete. 

A recording of the launch event, which provides more information about UK PBC, is below. Please note that there is no longer a 2010 cut-off for the UK PBC as referenced at 5.50 in the video, please refer to the MOU for the latest.

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