Memorandum of Understanding

The UK Print Book Collection (UK PBC) is a national distributed collection of print monographs.  Libraries whose records are available in Jisc’s NBK are invited to participate in this collaborative approach to collection management which will ensure preservation of and access to printed books for future scholars.

This document acts as the membership agreement for the UK PBC and sets out the expectations of libraries who agree to become members. The UK PBC is reliant on the good will of all members and supporting personnel.

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

Membership types and responsibilities 

Member libraries agree to upload their records regularly to Jisc’s NBK and to select one of the following categories of membership.

  • Participating member – libraries who agree to check their holdings against national holdings as expressed in the NBK when conducting stock editing exercises for print books. These libraries undertake not to deaccession a print book where their checking of NBK holdings indicates their copy is one of 7 or fewer held amongst libraries with records in the NBK. Participating members will agree to retain such copies in their collections wherever possible, which may include retention of multiple editions. Where they are unable to retain these copies, as a last resort, they will refer to the UK PBC process for passing print books to Receiving members.
  • 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 – libraries, who in addition to the responsibilities of Participating and Retaining members, agree to consider accepting copies of print books from other libraries. Acting as a Receiving member does not oblige a library to accept any print books but indicates that they may be willing to consider acceptance. Any shipping costs will be borne by the library transferring copies, and any copies transferred will be owned by the Receiving member.

Please note:

  • there is no requirement to check shelves to confirm the existence or condition of books.
  • in the unlikely event that a library believes that it has most of the last seven copies of a print book, it can seek guidance from the British Library (ukpbc@bl.uk).

Governance

The UK PBC has a Governing Board responsible for reviewing the objectives of the UK PBC, progress in meeting those objectives, and the terms of this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Membership term

Members will be invited to confirm their membership and the membership type every three years.

Member libraries leaving the UK PBC will be expected to let the British Library know as soon as possible (ukpbc@bl.uk) They will be asked to honour any retention commitments into which they have entered; or to enter into an agreement to transfer any printed books which they do not wish to retain which are held by 7 or fewer libraries with records in the NBK to a Receiving member; or a combination of these.

Member libraries leaving the UK PBC will allow a 12-month period so that any transfer of stock or removal of retention statements can be made.  The Board will confirm with the leaving library once all arrangements have been made.

Retention statements

The retention statement (for inclusion in the 583 MARC field) has been revised in line with international standards as developed by the European Print Initiatives Collaboration (EPICo) and the North American Shared Print Partnership. Guidelines on expressing retention statements to which Retaining members are asked to adhere are at: UKPBC-583guidelines-2025.pdf.

The retention statement can also be used to signal retention of items of local value even where there are more than 7 holding libraries.

Retention period

In perpetuity is the retention period to be used for the UK PBC. This aligns with the EPICO and North American guidelines on retention for long term preservation.

Scope

The UK PBC covers all print books with records in the NBK. This represents a change, as the UK PBC previously only covered print books published in or before 2010 (updated June 2026).

Where libraries are unable to retain books for which they are one of the last 7 holding libraries, the receiving library process may be used as a last resort. Where this process is invoked, the British Library will review books published from 2013 onwards (reflecting the introduction of the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non‑Print Works) Regulations) to determine whether an electronic legal deposit copy exists. Where such a copy exists, the retention threshold will be reduced from 7 to 3 for those print titles, and the offering library will be informed. The threshold will remain at 7 for books published before 2013 and for books published 2013 and later where there is no e-legal deposit copy.

The UK PBC does not cover serials (these are covered by the UKRR) or digital resources. Items which could be considered pamphlets or reports are in scope, as are items in languages other than English. It is recognised that further work to establish appropriate thresholds for the retention of material not published in the UK is needed and that this will be considered by the Board.

Reporting and data collection

Libraries that join the UK PBC will be contacted once a year as a ‘check-in’ to see how the UK PBC is working for them, to gather information on case studies to promote the UK PBC, and to gain feedback on how the UK PBC could be improved.

In addition to this, the UK PBC will collect information when libraries run a UK PBC stock exercise. Libraries are to email ukpbc@bl.uk with:

  • How many records they ran through Compare
  • The number of books retained (how many print monographs in scope were held by 7 or fewer libraries with records in the NBK).
  • How many print monographs were not held by 7 or fewer libraries with records in the NBK and therefore could potentially be deaccessioned. (This information will be converted to metres of shelving and only shared more widely as a total number of metres across all libraries.)
  • How many books they have decided to deaccession as part of the UK PBC. (This information will be converted to metres of shelving and only shared more widely as a total number of metres saved across all libraries).

Access

A key goal of the UK PBC is to preserve access to print content. Wherever possible members are asked to facilitate access to copies that they retain, or which have been transferred to them as Receiving members. Inter-library loans are encouraged, but access can be facilitated in print or digitally within the constraints of the relevant legislation. Retained items do not have to be kept on the open shelves, but users should be able to access them.