Dear All I consider that I have had a very unsatisfactory exchange with the British Library concerning e- access to those parts of the website already providing digital material! I have now given them one month to reply to my second email but clearly they cannot spare the time to do so. I think it's reasonable now to share the correspondence - as I promised some months ago - with this list. Perhaps all on the list who would be interested should start raising this issue direct with Roly Keating the Chief Executive. I had hoped the fairly new regime would be digitally more go-ahead. Best wishes Hazel Dear Jerry Many thanks for your reply to my email addressed to the Chief Executive. Of course I understand your point about collection security. However, there seems no logical reason why those who cannot come to London (and make the collection insecure) should not become members of a special category of "distance readers" with permission only to access the material, to which I referred in my earlier email, which is already on the web. It is difficult to imagine why this should not be affordable and why it should not be considered as an immediate ( rather than "under active consideration" - weasel words if I may say so) pilot leading to a wider scheme in the future. As I have pointed out, other major research libraries are acting in this regard rather than merely aspiring. "Can do" attracts so much more respect these days than deferment. I remain hopeful that you will be able to send me a much more satisfactory response to this last point to share with my networks of family historians overseas. Yours sincerely Hazel Dakers Dear Hazel I am writing in response to your email to the Chief Executive dated 8th April which has been forwarded to me as the senior manager responsible for the Library's Reader Registration policies. To provide some context, the Library's Reader Registration processes are driven largely by the requirements of collection security; namely, to ensure that the Library holds valid details pertaining to those accessing its collections. Until recently, the view has been taken that the only way to satisfactorily validate those details is to see original documents as proof of both identity and address. However, as you point out, the world is becoming increasingly digital and the Library must find ways to successfully accommodate that shift. To that end, and as well as striving to make ever more electronic content available remotely, steps have been taken in recent years to facilitate both on-line pre-registration for Readers and more recently to accept both electronic and print documentation as proof of a Reader's address. As it stands, however, these changes still require all Readers to present these documents in person either at our London site or in Yorkshire and, to your main point, access to remote electronic resources is therefore not possible unless this step is completed. As you suggest, a logical next step may therefore be for the Library to permit the Reader Registration process to be completed entirely on-line. To that end, an initial feasibility study was undertaken late last year to assess the potential options available and as a consequence of which the proposal remains under active consideration. However, as I'm sure you will appreciate, the Library must be able to demonstrate that any proposed solution would have no adverse effect on collection security and that it would also be affordable. Although I can give no guarantee at this stage what the outcome of this work may be, I hope the fact that this issue is at least under consideration provides some reassurance as to the Library's future aspirations in this regard. Yours Sincerely Jerry Shillito From: Hazel Dakers [mailto:hazel.dakers@blueyonder.co.uk] Sent: 08 April 2015 18:04 To: Keating, Roly Subject: Access to BL's e-resources Dear Mr Keating I have been a reader at the BL for many years - and in fact am a retired member of staff. So the issue I am raising with you does not impact upon me personally but is depriving family historian friends abroad of available digitised research information. I have a number of overseas friends who would dearly love access to the resources online at <https://eresources.remote.bl.uk:2443/login> https://eresources.remote.bl.uk:2443/login However, these are only available to registered readers. Is it possible now to register as a reader online or by sending the necessary documents by email? A number of South African researchers I know would benefit enormously from access to the Grahams Town Journal and some other listed newspapers but are not able to come to London to register as BL readers. These items are not available through my sub to www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> Other national libraries seem able to make comparable items available to e-registered readers eg <http://www.nla.gov.au/app/eresources/> http://www.nla.gov.au/app/eresources/ In the 2nd millenium it should be possible to make a separate e-registration that limits those registered to using online resources - if full registration by distance is not possible. I hope very much that you will find a means of facilitating wider electronic access to the BL's resources and look forward to your response on this issue. Kind regards Hazel Dakers