It is a national outrage that the British Library has been unable to fulfil its function over the past three months following a savage cyberattack – and that its functioning is likely to be severely limited for many months to come.
The Library’s recovery plan needs to be properly supported by central government, and not purely from its own reserves. Its proper functioning is not simply the responsibility of its Trustees, but a national responsibility. As our national library it is effectively insured by the government. It is time to invoke our insurance policy.
Let me explain. This cyberattack on the Library highlights both the vulnerability of the digital world, and the crucial importance of knowledge in modern Britain. The impact of the outage is being keenly felt by readers who have been used to its beautiful and efficient reading rooms, but the loss of access is also felt far beyond London, as the media coverage has overlooked the role the Library plays as a crucial node in the global network of knowledge. Its physical spaces – its exhibition galleries, reading rooms, and conference centre in St Pancras are the most visible aspect of the library today. But what is much less well understood is that its services are an essential part of the knowledge economy of the whole country, supporting not just individual scholars but the whole network of libraries across the UK, especially through its digital services.
The staff of the Library should be congratulated this week on the first phase of returning services to the nation. The online catalogue is back and physical items – its vast trove of physical books and unique manuscripts, archives, and maps – can now be retrieved for consultation at the BL’s St Pancras home. But many months of work remain for the team to restore full functionality, and to build digital infrastructure that will be more resilient to attack in the future.
One of the library’s most critical functions, its centuries-old operation as a library of legal deposit has come to a complete halt
One of the library’s most critical functions, its centuries-old operation as a library of legal deposit (also known as being a ‘copyright library’) and one of the defining characteristics of a national library, has, however, come to a complete halt. Legal deposit - where publishers are required to give their publications to six libraries in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (in return for Irish publications) has been enshrined in law since the 17th century.
It is firmly part of the landscape of knowledge in these islands, providing an on-going record of the development of ideas, fashion, science and culture – an amazing resource for research and learning. Since 2013 the law has been extended to allow publishers to deposit their materials in digital form, extending the scope of collecting, although without additional funding from government to support it.
The operation is shared between the British Library and the other libraries that receive the privilege (the Bodleian Library in Oxford (where I am Director), as well as the Cambridge University Library, the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, and with Trinity College, Dublin.
The millions of digital publications jointly collected by the libraries since 2013 have been inaccessible since the cyberattack, with students, scholars, entrepreneurs, creatives and the general public across the UK and Ireland deprived of access to the most up-to-date materials, some of it published only digitally.
The British Library is a venerable institution with its origins in Enlightenment Britain, with the idea that knowledge should be freely available to the nation’s citizens, as a social, intellectual, and economic good. The library, originally part of the British Museum, has been an incubator for new ideas from political theorists like Karl Marx, social reformers such as suffragettes Sylvia Pankhurst, and writers from Bram Stoker to Zadie Smith. The BL has helped them to think great thoughts, and develop world-changing ideas.
The British Library is the nation’s library. It is a part of the infrastructure of a modern knowledge-oriented society and economy, and a critical part of the infrastructure of our democracy. In its hour of need the Government must recognise it as such.
