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The British Library Public Catalogue (BLPC)

Search the British Library Public Catalogue

The British Library Public Catalogue provides access to the main British Library catalogues, describing over ten million items available either in our Reading Rooms or for remote supply as photocopies or loans. BLPC is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are three methods of accessing BLPC, via the Web, by using a Z39.50 client or via the COPAC interface.

Web access
Z39.50 access
COPAC access
New! Integrated Library System

Web access

BLPC is available through a browser, using either a frames-based graphical interface or a simple text-based interface. The graphical interface also offers an order facility for ordering loans and photocopies of material held by the British Library Document Supply Centre.

The catalogues included in BLPC are:

Reference

  • Humanities (1975 - )
  • Science, Technology & Business (1974 - )
  • Retrospective (Pre 1975)
  • Music (1980 - )
  • Music (Pre 1981 - )
The Reference catalogues represent the holdings of the Library that may primarily be consulted in the London Reading Rooms. The admission policy of the Reading Rooms gives full details of how to gain access to material held in London. To obtain reproductions of material in the London collections, please contact BL Reproductions.

Document Supply

  • Journals (1700 - )
  • Books (Pre 1950 & 1980 - )
  • Conference Proceedings (1800 - )

The Document Supply catalogues represent the majority of the material held for remote access, including books and reports before 1950 and from 1980 onwards, conference proceedings from c1800 and journals from c1700 (dates refer to the earliest publication dates of material found in the online catalogues). Items are generally held in stock at the Document Supply Centre (DSC) at Boston Spa. The material is available from DSC or from the Boston Spa Reading Room. More information about holdings can be found on the DSC's collections pages.

If the materials you wish to search are not included in BLPC, they may be included in other British Library online/web catalogues listed in the Catalogues menu above.

Z39.50 access

Z39.50 clients such as Bookwhere and Endnote can now access the full range of catalogues available on BLPC, with records displayed in the SUTRS format. The following configuration details are required to gain access:

  • Host Name: BLPCZ
  • Domain Name: blpcz.bl.uk
  • Port Number: 21021
  • Database Name: BLPC-ALL

If you wish to configure your Z39.50 client for individual catalogues, the names are as follows:

DOCSUPPLY-ALL
DOCSUPPLY-JOURNALS
DOCSUPPLY-BOOKS
DOCSUPPLY-CONFERENCES
REF-ALL
REF-HUMANITIES
REF-SCIENCES
REF-RETROSPECTIVE
REF-MUSIC
REF-MUSICRETROSPECTIVE
REF-MAPS *
RPS *

* not available through the web interface offered on BLPC. RPS (the Register of Preservation Surrogates of over 187,000 microforms held by participating UK libraries) is only accessible as a separate file within BLPCZ.

Users of EndNote can download a connection file.

Users wishing to learn more about the BLPCZ Z39.50 target can view further details including all diagnostic messages.

COPAC access

COPAC is a union catalogue providing free access to the merged online catalogues of members of the Consortium of University Research Libraries. Currently 22 of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland plus the British Library contribute records to COPAC. Full details along with access to the catalogue can be found at:
http://copac.ac.uk/copac/

Integrated Library System (ILS)

The British Library is in the process of implementing an Integrated Library System (ILS) which will replace the Library's main existing systems for acquisitions, cataloguing and catalogue access within reading rooms and via the Web. The ILS will ultimately result in work being processed more efficiently and support improved co-ordination, helping staff to maintain and improve quality of service for readers and remote users. One effect will be changes to the appearance of the screens used to access the Library's bibliographic records.

Based on ALEPH and MetaLib software supplied by Ex-Libris, the ILS will satisfy the British Library's main requirements from a single 'off the shelf' solution. The same system will be used across a wide variety of Library activities and will offer the ability to link to external systems and exchange bibliographic records with other organisations. It will also link to other services such as remote document requesting.

During 2003 the British Library will concentrate on the preparatory work essential for such a large change. This includes changing the organisation's internal processing, converting data from its existing bibliographic and acquisitions systems and a major staff training exercise. The data load is expected to take most of the year and cutover from the legacy systems to the ILS will be in phases starting in early 2004.