Legal deposit is a statutory requirement under which publishers, printers or other designated parties must deposit copies of published works with designated institutions, usually free of charge. It serves as a fundamental mechanism for preserving a country’s published documentary and cultural heritage.
Key Objectives
Firstly, it ensures that a country’s publishing output is systematically collected and preserved for future generations.
Secondly, it provides the foundation for compiling the official national bibliography and documenting the country’s published output.
Last but not least, it provides an authoritative foundation for long-term research and access to a country’s published record, subject to applicable legal, copyright and preservation restrictions.
Scope and Evolving Formats
The scope of legal deposit has evolved considerably since its origins, expanding from printed publications to a wide range of formats, including electronic publications and, in some jurisdictions, digital and online content.
Rather than focusing solely on commercially published books, modern legal deposit systems may encompass books, newspapers, magazines, maps, music, audiovisual materials, electronic publications and other forms of publicly distributed content, depending on the legislation of each country.
Criteria Determining Inclusion
The specific criteria determining whether a work is subject to legal deposit vary between jurisdictions. In general, legislation considers factors such as:
- Distribution or dissemination: the material is published or made available to the public, whether commercially or free of charge.
- Territorial connection: the work is published, produced or distributed within the jurisdiction, or is issued by a publisher or other entity established there.
- Type and format of publication: the material falls within one of the categories covered by the relevant legal deposit legislation, which may include both physical and digital publications.
There is therefore no single international definition of what must be deposited. Each country establishes its own legal framework, including the publications covered, the parties responsible for deposit, the number of copies required and the institutions entitled to receive them.
Different National Models
Legal deposit systems differ substantially between countries. Some operate through dedicated national legislation, while others connect deposit requirements to copyright registration or use agreements for particular types of publications.
France operates a dual system for certain categories of publications: both the publisher and the printer have separate legal deposit obligations.
Under Spain’s Law 23/2011 on Legal Deposit, the primary obligation generally falls on the publisher, while the printer assumes the obligation in specific circumstances defined by law.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, one copy must be deposited with the British Library, while five other legal deposit libraries are entitled to request copies: the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the Bodleian Libraries, Cambridge University Library and Trinity College Dublin.
Switzerland: An Alternative Model
The Swiss National Library (NL), headquartered in Bern, operates under a different model. Unlike most European countries, Switzerland does not have a federal statutory legal deposit system.
Instead, the Swiss National Library has established agreements with organisations representing the publishing industry for the acquisition and preservation of Swiss publications.
The situation also varies between cantons. Some cantons, including Vaud and Geneva, have their own legal provisions governing the deposit of publications.