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<p>The final costs of recovery from the recent cyber-attack on the British Library
are not yet confirmed. As it has from the outset, the British Library remains in close
and regular contact with the Department on the ongoing work to investigate and assess
the impact of the attack and to recover services.</p><p>Despite the cyber attack,
the British Library’s buildings have remained open and well-used throughout, and it
has maintained some key services including reading room access for personal study
and some limited collection item ordering, exhibitions, learning events, business
support, and onsite retail. In the immediate aftermath essential services such as
WiFi and event ticket sales were quickly re-established.</p><p>On 15 January, the
British Library restored a searchable online version of its main catalogue, comprising
records of printed books, journals, maps, music scores and rare books. This will enable
a manual process of checking availability and ordering to the Reading Rooms. In addition,
it will offer access to an increased range of special collection material such as
manuscripts and archives. Taken together, these improvements mean that from this date
the majority of physical books and special collections held at its St Pancras site
will once again be available for use.</p><p>Further updates will be provided as the
Library continues to recover from the attack.</p>
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