Information Services

Copyright and Interlibrary Loans

Information on copyright restrictions and requesting Interlibrary loans for commercial purposes.

Terms and conditions

The British Library's Library Privilege Service provides copies for non-commercial use, and there should be no financial gain arising from the use of the copy supplied. Copies are provided for the personal use of the individual submitting the request and must not be duplicated or distributed to any other people

For each copy request, you are required to agree to the terms and conditions of the British Library's Library Privilege Services.

 

Important Copyright Information

Each time you submit a request, you will be required to tick a box indicating your agreement to abide by the following conditions.   If, at a later stage, you are discovered to have broken these rules, you as the individual will be held personally liable.

I am applying for this document under the terms of British Library's Privilege Services:

  1. I have not previously been supplied with a copy of the same material by you or any other Librarian;
  2. I will not use the copy except for research for a non-commercial purpose or private study and will not supply a copy of it to any other person;
  3. To the best of my knowledge no other person with whom I work or study has made or intends to make, at or about the same time as this request, a request for substantially the same material for substantially the same purpose.
  4. I have agreed by means of digital signature to abide by current copyright legislation.
  5. I understand that if the declaration is false in a material particular, the copy supplied to me by you will be an infringing copy and I shall be liable for infringement of copyright as if I had made the copy myself.

Copyright limits

As a general rule, ILL can provide a copy of:

  • One article or 10% (whichever is the greater) from a single journal part.
  • One chapter or 10% (whichever is the greater) from a single monograph. 

Copies supplied for commercial purpose or for distribution

If you require a copy for commercial purposes, where there will be some form of financial gain as a result of obtaining the copy, you will need to pay a copyright fee in addition to the basic ILL charge.

If you wish to distribute the article to colleagues or students, this falls outside the Library Privilege Service and therefore a copyright fee will be charged in addition to the basic ILL charge

If you wish to purchase such a copyright-fee-paid copy, please indicate this on your request. We will then notify you of the exact copyright fee (usually about £5.00 + VAT, but often considerably more) and ask you to confirm that you are happy with the charges. The copyright fee is in addition to the charge made for the ILL request and will be counted against your quota of free requests.