British Library research repository

The British Library Research Repository is an open access repository for the research produced by staff and research associates of the British Library.

Research informs and supports almost every aspect of our work, be it curation, conservation, preservation, resource discovery, digital innovation, cultural programming or learning. Whether it’s a major exhibition or a new way to discover or understand a unique part of our collections, it has been enabled by staff research. The outputs of that research have important value for future researchers and we want to make them discoverable and accessible for everybody. 

Repository aims

1. Provide a reliable source of information about research undertaken by British Library staff, individually or in collaboration with other research organisations.

2. Provide a single point of open access to our full-text research outputs wherever possible.

3. Make our research easier to find, and enhance the contribution we make to UK and international research.

4. Respond to the open access expectations of our research funders.

Content in the repository

The repository houses material such as journal articles, conference papers, books and book chapters, reports, datasets, images, exhibition texts and blog posts. Where the full item cannot be added, metadata about the research output is provided together with a link to the full item where possible.

Material not produced by or in association with British Library staff is not eligible for inclusion.

Shared repository service

The repository is part of a Shared Research Repository service, encompassing the research outputs of a small number of UK cultural and heritage institutions: the British Library, British Museum, National Museums Scotland, MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Our separate repositories can be visited each in turn or explored together via a single search through the collaborative Shared Research Repository page. The British Library manages the shared repository service.

The repository is built using Samvera Hyku, a rapidly developing open source repository software in which multitenancy is a key feature. The British Library’s shared repository pilot project is an early adopter of the Hyku platform and we are happy to share our experiences around scalability, multi-tenancy and user experience.

The repository metadata is available for harvesting via the OAI-PMH protocol. The base URL is https://bl.iro.bl.uk/catalog/oai

Further information about our Shared Repository Service can be found at https://www.bl.uk/repository-services.

For all enquiries, please use the Repository's contact form or email openaccess@bl.uk.