To Archive or to Access? Toward a Rationale for Digital-Map Collecting at the Legal Deposit Libraries of the UK and Ireland

Abstract

The six Legal Deposit Libraries of the UK and Ireland (LDLs) have been collecting digital maps under legal deposit regulations since 2016. The LDLs collect a subset of the totality of digital maps published each year and this article explores a rationale for deciding what to collect. The collection is made accessible in reading rooms through a web-map interface that facilitates visual use. Technical and regulatory restrictions preclude the ability to download data or perform analysis. Thus the viewer is suited to the use cases of the primary users, personal or independent researchers. However, legal deposit guidance outlines that the collection should also be representative of the use of digital maps in the UK’s wider economy and society, so that future users can gain insights into contemporary publication. Balancing archival value with access is therefore critical to a collecting rationale. This article examines how the value, license and type of digital maps influences decisions and ends by offering a set of criteria for collecting that also includes publisher engagement. In evaluating the differing and complementary roles of libraries as archives and as points of access, the article has implications for understanding curatorship and the public purpose of libraries.