BCRA's Journal Exchange Programme

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Summary

Over the years of BCRA's existence we have assembled a large collection of books, journals and scientific publications. This collection now comprises a part of the British Caving Library, which is managed by BCRA on behalf of the British Caving Association.

BCRA is keen to maintain its collection of journals and caving club publications from the UK and around the world. We encourage clubs to deposit their publications in the National Caving Library in addition to the standard Legal Deposit requirements. We operate a 'journal exchange programme' with overseas caving clubs and national bodies where, in exchange for receiving donations to our library, we supply copies of BCRA periodicals free of charge.

What we Exchange

Paper Exchanges

In exchange for a regular (at least annual) caving newsletter or magazine we will send a copy of our Annual Review.

In exchange for a regular (at least annual) cave science or exploration journal we will send a copy of our Annual Review plus the three annual issues of Cave & Karst Science.

In exchange for a regular (at least annual) cave technology journal (e.g. surveying, electronics, radio, equipment etc.) we will send four quarterly issues of our CREG Journal.

Free Gifts

Text added 14-Jan-2021BCRA still has a large stock of paper back-issues of Cave & Karst Science and its predecessors Cave Science and BCRA Transactions; also Caves and Caving, Speleology (no longer published) and the CREG Journal. See our Publications List. We are willing to give these away, (but we welcome donations!) provided you can collect. Postage (especially overseas postage) can be expensive for heavy items such as these and we would have to charge it at cost.

If you are renewing an exchange with us, and you are missing some of our publications, please tell us what we need to give you, to bring your collection up to date. We will post these free of charge, and we hope that you can return the offer by supplying our missing copies of your publications.

Electronic Exchanges

Text added 14-Jan-2021The purpose of our Journal Exchange programme is to make paper publications more widely available, and to archive them for the future. Discounting such archaic formats as CD-ROMs, there is no reason why an actual "exchange" of electronic publications has to take place, provided they remain accessible over the Internet. From our perspective... Cave & Karst Science is accessible on-line via a free monthly ID; our Annual Review is a free download; access to the CREG Journal is available for a very modest fee. We encourage other organisations to...

• Provide free or cheap access to your on-line publications for organisations such as the British Caving Library.
• Ensure that your on-line publications are properly archived and backed-up, so that they remain available in the future.
• Encourage your national caving organisation to actively promote robust archiving practices.
• Act now to backup any publications that exist only on CD-ROM. Writable CD-ROMs are unstable, and can last less than ten years unless they are burnt using a professional-quality device, using professional-quality discs, and kept in a controlled (dark, cool, dry) environment. Home computers cannot burn CDs to the necessary archival standards!

Details

The criteria for receiving free exchange copies of BCRA periodicals are not easy to define because they amount to a statement of 'what we would like in our library' rather than a rigid formula. Broadly speaking, we are looking for publications that are of similar quality, content, and frequency of publication to BCRA periodicals - e.g. speleological science journals and magazines covering expedition and sport caving. We prefer publications in the English language but we would also welcome key international publications in other languages. Journals produced by local caving clubs are particularly welcome provided they are of sufficient quality - a photocopied newsletter would probably not merit an exchange with us because, unfortunately, our budget for printing and postage is limited - although we are happy to receive these items as donations.

We realise that many publications are produced by volunteers and may be published at irregular dates. That is true of BCRA's periodicals as well as others! Where irregular publication of your material has, in the past, resulted in our cancelling an exchange; or where BCRA's irregular publication has resulted in your missing items of ours, we shall be happy to discuss the exchange of back-issues to fill any gaps in a series.

BCRA has stock of most back-issues of Cave & Karst Science, The BCRA Review, Speleology, Caves & Caving and of precursors to these publications. Where we are unable to provide back-issues specifically as an 'exchange' (e.g. due to the significant postage costs), we shall nevertheless be happy to provide the actual publications free of charge, provided that we have sufficient surplus stock and that you pay the postage or arrange collection by hand (e.g. at our national conference).

Exchanging periodicals with UK caving clubs has always posed a slight problem for us. Obviously, if we offered to exchange something with every UK club, none would want to pay for BCRA membership. For this reason, although we encourage UK clubs to contribute to the national caving library, we cannot always offer anything in exchange. However, as noted above, we are happy to provide back-issues free of charge (apart from postage) where this will help to fill a gap in your BCRA collections. We can also supply moderate quantities of some back-issues as promotional material. If you would like copies of a particular item, please enquire to see how many spares we have available.

If you have published a book or other item that you would like to deposit in the library, and you would like it to be reviewed for Cave & Karst Science or the BCRA Review, please contact the editors of these periodicals (see our Contacts List). They will arrange for a review and will then forward the item to the BCRA librarian.

How to Apply

If you wish to apply to join BCRA's journal exchange programme, or if you wish to confirm an existing arrangement, please contact us. We will need to know some details about your publication as well as a contact name and address. Initially, it is our Librarian who will make a decision on which items we wish to hold on our shelves. However, if there are special circumstances, you can ask BCRA Council to consider your case. For example, perhaps you represent a volunteer-based group that maintains an international caving library, and you would like to hold our periodicals but you have nothing to exchange.

Who to Contact

All correspondence on journal exchanges should be sent, in the first instance to BCRA Librarian, Old Methodist Chapel, Great Hucklow, BUXTON, SK17 8RG or by email (see our Contacts List). All items for deposit in our library should be sent to BCRA Library Deposits at the above address. Please update your records and do not use any other address for sending library items to us.