Analysis: From books to pamphlets, the National Library's collection of printed material serves to document our social history
By Sarah-Jane Coyle, Queen's University Belfast
When was the last time you visited your national library? In many communities, a trip to the local library is as commonplace as a trip to the supermarket, with everything from book clubs to language classes on offer. For those interested in local history or in 'local interest' titles, you might believe that only a local library or specialist bookshop can satisfy your specific curiosities. Perhaps you think that national libraries are only for ‘serious’ researchers.
In fact, the National Library of Ireland collects all material published in Ireland, making sure that it becomes part of the national heritage. This occurs through a process known as Legal Deposit - the statutory obligation on publishers or distributors to deposit at least one copy of every publication published in Ireland to designated libraries. These are Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, UCD, University College Cork, University of Limerick, University of Galway, Maynooth University and the British Library in London.
In addition, the British Library and TCD constitute two of the six legal deposit libraries that make up the UK and Ireland legal deposit system. This means that Irish publishers are also required, on request, to deposit publications with the Bodleian Library at University of Oxford, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of Wales.
From Tom Scott, a look at the British Library: 'this library has every book ever published.’
The concept of Legal Deposit has existed in English law since 1662. It ensures that publications become an essential research resource, and that they can be held in posterity for use by future generations. Yet people often struggle to get their heads around the sheer scale of legal deposit. How can a library hold everything ever published? How can it continue to build its collections? Surely not everything gets deposited? How is it enforced?
The truth is that all material is valued because it serves to document our social history. As a joint press release from the six UK and Ireland Legal deposit libraries put it, the aim is to have 'Everything Forever.' As legal deposit helps to ensure that the nation’s published output is collected systematically, it applies to books of all kinds, alongside other printed materials such as periodicals, magazines, 'zines, pamphlets and newspapers.
Snce 2013, the British Library and the five other specified legal deposit libraries in the UK and Ireland have collaborated to archive and provide access to ‘non-print’ or electronic Legal Deposit material published in the UK. This includes everything from e-books and e-journal articles to the harvesting of websites via the UK Web Archive.
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As legal deposit has a legislative basis, it can be enforced through maintaining relationships with publishers and distributors. If an item is outstanding, reminders are sent. Sadly, myths around legal deposit often mean that a high number of publications fail to comply with the legislation. Alongside the false belief that legal deposit is selective or conducts some sort of quality check on the material, it is also assumed that legal deposit does not apply to self-published works. In fact, not having an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) does not preclude an item from falling within deposit obligations, and books published through print-on-demand service are also required to be deposited.
Self-published material is known to represent a significant proportion of published content in the UK and Ireland. My research at the British Library highlights the importance of ensuring that self-published material is collected through legal deposit. The freedom of independent publishing yields an innovative range of writing styles and forms. These appeal to those authors traditionally shunned by traditional publishing models, such as LGBTQIA+, neurodiverse, and black or minority ethnic authors. By making clear that copies of all self-published material in Ireland are valued and desired, we can ensure that national collections are inclusive and representative of experience across the whole of modern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland, this holds particular resonance. Unlike the Republic of Ireland and the UK, it does not have a national legal deposit library. The McClay Library at Queen's University Belfast serves as an official deposit library for Northern Ireland official publications only. This means that commercial and independent publications often fail to be collected.
In recent years, the National Collection of Northern Ireland Publications (NIPR) has sought to collect every book, pamphlet, journal and periodical published in Northern Ireland since January 2000. To do so, it has depended on voluntary donations of material by local writers, organisations and publishers. As with compulsory legal deposit obligations, the cost of printing and posting is often seen as prohibitive.
My research aims to raise awareness that the administrative burden of engaging with legal deposit obligations in the short term will reap innumerable benefits in the future. Fundamentally, authors should ask themselves 'why wouldn’t I want my work in my national library?’ Even if they do not crave thousands of readers, the preservation of their work heralds its entrance into cultural and national history.
So, the next time you fancy some localised or ‘niche’ reading, give your national library a try. Its collections might just surprise you and your support may well encourage an Irish author to deposit their work for the first time, and for posterity.
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Sarah-Jane Coyle is a PhD candidate at the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen's University Belfast and a tutor in Criminal Law at QUB School of Law. Her current research receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council via the Northern Bridge Consortium.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
