The UK Web Archive

The UK Web Archive is provided by the British Library in partnership with the National Library of Wales, JISC and The Wellcome Library. In the past, The National Archives and the National Library of Scotland have also been involved. The British Library also has worked with the The Live Art Development Agency, The Society of Friends Library, The Women's Library at London Metropolitan University and other key institutions to build special collections within the UK Web Archive. open tip How are websites selected? Contributors to the UK Web Archive select websites according to their own collection development policies and areas of expertise. Selected websites are considered to be of long term research value, either in themselves or as part of a Special Collection of themed materials. Typically, archived websites publish research, reflect the diversity of lives, interests and activities throughout the UK, or demonstrate web innovation. They are chosen to represent a range of social, political, cultural, religious, scientific or economic activities. Members of the public, including website owners themselves, are welcome to nominate a website for the archive. open tip Is permission asked first before a website is archived? Contributors to the UK Web Archive seek permission from the website owner for every website it archives unless the website already states that is has given permission (for example through a Creative Commons Licence) or the contributor already has rights to the site (for example, the British Library archives its own site). Asking permission is costly and difficult (many owners simply don't respond to the request) so we have been advising the Government on the necessary regulations required to gather all in-scope UK websites automatically. The British Library and other "legal deposit libraries" have this right in principle under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act (2003) but need a further legal regulation to go ahead. open tip Does Legal Deposit legislation apply to websites? The Legal Deposit Libraries Act (2003) extended the right of the Legal Deposit Libraries to claim online publications, subject to regulations required by the Act and to be determined by the Government. The process of forming such regulations is still underway so contributors to the UK Web Archive ask permission before archiving UK sites. The UK Legal Deposit Libraries are The British Library, The National Library of Scotland, The National Library of Wales, The Bodleian Library, Oxford and Cambridge University Library. The British Library is currently preparing the technical infrastructure to support the larger scale harvesting that regulation would allow. open tip Are "trivial" sites included? Beauty ­ and 'trivia' ­ are in the eye of the beholder. The approach of the UK Web Archive is to take a broad view and to build as far as practicable a balanced overall collection. There will be some archived websites that divide users between those who regard them as inappropriate and those who regard them as significant aspects of contemporary life secured for future researchers.