Frequently asked questions

The UK Research Reserve (UKRR) is a collaborative and co-operative programme to safeguard the long-term retention, preservation, and access to low use print journals within the Higher Education sector.

The purpose of the UKRR is to provide support for libraries attempting to balance the needs of a new generation of users who value group study and IT facilities, with the need to protect the research contained within space-intensive low-use print journal collections.

Despite often receiving little use, large back runs of journals still contain a wealth of knowledge which holding libraries are often obliged to continue providing access to. The increase of digital content means that many of these titles are now available online, however the long term stability of this form of access remains untested. By retaining a minimum number of print collections duplicated across multiple locations, the UKRR is helping libraries balance the need to secure long-terms access with the desire to re-purpose this space.

UKRR offers many benefits to members:

• Protecting  the UK’s research base
• Access to an enhanced document supply service from BLDSC
• Access to funding for deduplication to release space for other uses

UKRR is an example of the move from a ‘Just in Case’ to a ‘Just in Time’ information management model – which fits the needs of a 21st century university library. It gives members both a fiscal advantage and improved service delivery from the British Library.

The UKRR is a partnership between the British Library and the Higher Education sector.  Member libraries provide details of materials they wish to dispose of, and the UKRR coordinates the process of ensuring that sufficient copies of the journal are retained across the membership base.

Through holdings checks, gaps are filled in the British Library’s loanable collections ensuring complete runs of journals are held for the Research Reserve wherever possible. Two additional copies are then held in participating HE libraries, distributing the costs of continued storage.

Access to materials stored at the British Library is guaranteed by the British Library Document Supply Centre, which will deliver documents either electronically to the desktop, or to the BL reading rooms within 24 hours of receiving the request.

By joining the UKRR, libraries can de-duplicate their own collections and release space for other uses, secure in the knowledge that copies of this material will be available for researchers on demand.

UKRR is a 5 year programme, allowing members to submit material at different points in the UKRR schedule in order to fit in with their own collection development plans.

UKRR is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and is a partnership between Higher Education and the British Library; the lead institution is Imperial College London.

The programme is governed by an Advisory Board with representatives from the main stakeholders, including the academic community.  There is also a cross-sector UKRR Selection Panel which reviews applications from university libraries, and a retention mediation panel made up of SCONUL members and UKRR staff.

HEFCE has awarded £9.83 million to UKRR.

Libraries can apply for funding to identify and manage material for deduplication. The funding is based on a fixed rate of £26.16 per metre of material, deemed to be in scope. All submitted material, as long as in scope, not just that transferred to UKRR, will be eligible for funding.

Funding is based on the metres submitted not those transferred.

The funding is to cover the costs of withdrawing and disposing of low use print journals.  Libraries may decide how to use the funds locally as long as they make it clear to UKRR how they are spending the money, for example funds may be used to cover additional staff costs or on the transport of material to the BLDSC.

No. Funding is available for material which is deduplicated and is paid at the above rate when the space is released. However libraries will only be requested to hold material which is core to their collection.

Funding is paid at the end of the cycle, once a decision has been made on the disposal or retention of material.

The subscription funds, though not large, will contribute to the storage costs of housing the journals at the British Library.

The BL acts as the last copy holder, and will store, preserve and provide access to material held within the UKRR. In this way the contribution made to storage costs through the UKRR subscription is matched by the BL.

The annual subscription is due at the time of joining and every year thereafter. Invoices will be sent directly to the libraries from the British Library. 

Membership to UKRR is no longer open, having closed at the end of 2009. It was necessary to close membership after one year in order to determine the pool of holdings within the membership, so that these holdings could be de-duplicated over the remaining four years.

Yes. All document supply requests are eligible for the premium document supply service. The service will be activated once your document supply accounts have been confirmed.

No. UKRR members will benefit from the enhanced BL document supply service for all their document supply requests. The service is not limited to the material which they submit to UKRR.

Libraries retaining material for UKRR do not have any greater responsibility for document supply than they would normally have within the existing channels of inter-library loan. The BL holds and is responsible for the principal document supply copy for the UK. The 2nd and 3rd copies held in the UKRR holding libraries exist in order to safeguard preservation .

No.  The BL has a dedicated UKRR team so their activity will not impact on the document supply service.

UKRR covers print journals which satisfy the British Library’s definition of research material. This includes:

Materials containing research reporting

New findings

Scientific experimental results

Other information useful to researchers

This may include material such as yearbooks, annual reports and conference proceedings which the BL treats as serial material and deems the content as valuable.

Material excluded from UKKR includes monographs, teaching materials, popular fiction, newspapers, leisure journals, basic & how to texts, practical guides, abstracts and indexes.

UKRR has a wide range of criteria and will particularly favour lists of material containing a good mix of long and short runs. Be aware that material more difficult to process e.g. non Roman scripts, journals without ISSNs etc, will take longer to process.

Yes. As long as the short-run material is in proportion to the rest of the titles on offer, and that that the average title/space ratio for the entire list remains within the target parameters of 0.8 - 1.2 metres per title.

Yes. If the BL hold the titles then this material is in scope. Please note however that because of the complexity of this type of material the response could take longer to process. If you are considering submitting this type of material it would be preferable to receive a mixture of both English language, and non-English language items. If in any doubt then please contact UKRR.

This depends if the poor condition is a result of wear and tear or contamination. If the condition is due to wear and tear it is acceptable to submit the material, as it is better to have a copy in poor condition than none at all. If you have material which is in poor condition please provide details when you submit it so that an informed decision can be made about whether to pursue it or not.

Libraries identify material which they wish to deduplicate. The full holdings details, including the shelf measurements, are input into the template spreadsheet which is then submitted to UKRR. After holdings comparisons are done by the BL any requests for material to be transferred to the BL are made. The list is also checked against other UKRR holdings to establish whether the material is scarce. 

UKRR conducts two cycles of activity each year, each taking 6 months to complete. Members are contacted prior to the cycle to confirm their intentions and gain an indication of the amount of material they wish to submit. This is to ensure consistency in the amount of material being processed by the project partners. Lists should be submitted as early as possible within the cycle to expedite the process of de-duplication and ensure as complete a response as possible.

The purpose of conducting de-duplication in cycles is to permit incremental progress to be made towards establishing a collective research collection. Due to the complexity of coordinating the retention of multiple holdings of a title across the membership, receiving a final response to all submitted titles may sometimes take longer than the length of the cycle within which they were submitted.

Libraries must gain academic and institutional support for deduplication before joining UKRR, and an advocacy toolkit is available from our resources page to assist with this. However UKRR are happy to offer further advice and support if the library feels this would be helpful.

If journals are not needed by the British Library, UKRR expects the HE library to dispose of the material in an environmentally friendly way or send the journals to charity.

The British Library has made a formal commitment that all material held in the UKRR will be retained for at least the five years of the current programme.

The ownership of journals belongs to the library holding them for UKRR.

Individual items do not get a unique identifier, but a statement is added to the catalogue record identifying it as a UKRR retained title.

Support material is available from our members' resources page.  We are working to increase the amount of supporting documentation we have available, and welcome suggestions of material which would be of use to members.

Via the UKRR Website: www.ukrr.ac.uk

Consult the members handbook

Or alternatively email the UKRR Project