British Library 'experiencing major technology outage due to cyber incident'

The British Library
Getty
Tom Davidson31 October 2023

The British Library is suffering a major technology outage as a result of an unknown cyber incident.

The website, online systems and services of the London institution are all affected, along with some onsite services including public Wi-Fi. They can only accept cash.

The National Cyber Security Centre are investigating the cause of the incident, whose nature is unclear.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the library provided an update to customers:

"The Library’s buildings remain fully open and the following services are available onsite: - Reading Rooms (for personal study) - any collection items ordered on or before 26 October - very limited, manual collection item ordering in London via our printed catalogues, for items stored in St Pancras only.

"If you have tickets to Fantasy: Realms of Imagination, you’ll still be able to use them. You can also buy tickets onsite but we can only accept cash."

"We know that you may have questions, but please bear with us while we gather more information. We’ll update as regularly as we can."

More to follow.

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