The development of the national libraries of the United Kingdom is briefly discussed and placed in a broader European and international context. The history of legal deposit is examined. This is argued to represent the development of a de facto distributed national collection which has grown organically over more than 400 years. The present configuration of the national library system is described and discussed. Finally, there is a discussion of current issues, and especially of the legal deposit of electronic publications and documents. It is argued that the national libraries play a key role in this process, which is about to be recognized by the law, but that there are also other important players involved in both the public and the private sectors.
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