Legal deposit in Australia

What is legal deposit ?

Legal deposit is a statutory provision which obliges publishers to deposit copies of their publications in libraries in the country in which they are published. Under section 201 of the Copyright Act, 1968 and various state Acts, a copy of any work published in Australia must be deposited with the National Library of Australia and the appropriate State Library.

In New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, legislation also applies to other libraries and a copy must also be deposited with these libraries. Legal deposit of the material is the sole responsibility of the publisher or author. Legal deposit extends not only to commercial publishers but also to private individuals, clubs, churches, associations, societies and organisations.

What are the requirements of legal deposit ?

The Acts requiring deposit have a number of common features.

  • Definition of a work
    A work can be a book, a periodical such as a newsletter or annual report, a newspaper, a piece of sheet music, map, plan, chart, table, program, catalogue, brochure or pamphlet.
    In some states it also includes material published in electronic format such as CD’s and computer disks and DVD's.
  • Definition of publication
    A work is deemed to have been published if reproductions of the work or edition have been made available (whether by sale or otherwise) to the public.
  • Best copy
    The deposit copy must be the best complete copy of a work as
    published. For example, if both a hardback and paperback edition is
    published, one copy of the hardback edition must be deposited.
  • Second and subsequent editions
    A copy of a second or later edition must be deposited if there are
    changes or additions to the preceding edition, such as to text or to
    illustrations. If a book is reprinted with a change to the title or to any
    part of the content, or it has a different publisher, it is considered to
    be a new edition.
  • Legal deposit claims
    Publishers should deposit routinely on publication. To ensure the
    collection of published Australiana is as complete as possible, a
    deposit library may claim, from the publisher, publications not held
    in their collection. This is to remind publishers of the requirements
    of legal deposit under the Copyright Act 1968.

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What are the benefits of legal deposit ?

The National Library and other deposit libraries have an obligation to preserve all material lodged with them. Legal deposit* ensures that:

  • the works of authors and publishers survive for the use of future generations
  • records for legal deposit publications are available through Libraries Australia (a shared online national bibliographic database)
  • commercial and self-published work receive wide exposure
  • libraries can access and order bibliographic records for published works
  • selected titles are included in online indexing databases, for example, APAIS (Australian Public Affairs Information Service) and AMI (Australasian Medical Index).

*Legal deposit of material with libraries does not provide copyright protection. Copyright protection is granted automatically once a work is created.

The National Library's catalogue is available on the Internet at: http://www.nla.gov.au and search under Our catalogue.

The National Library provides the Cataloguing-in-Publication
program (CiP). CiP is a free service offered to publishers to provide
a bibliographic record for a book before it is published.

Cataloguing in Publication
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600.
T: 02 6262 1458
F: 02 6273 4492
I: http://www.nla.gov.au/services/CIP.html
E: cip@nla.gov.au

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Particular requirements of each deposit library

Australia wide - National Library of Australia

Legal Deposit Unit
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
T: 02 6262 1312
F: 02 6273 4492
E: legaldep@nla.gov.au
Internet: http://www.nla.gov.au/services/ldeposit.html

Legal deposit with the National Library is required under the Copyright Act 1968 s201. The Act requires all Australian publishers to deliver a copy of library material to the National Library within one month of publication. Library material means a book, periodical (eg newsletter, annual report), newspaper, pamphlet, sheet of letterpress, sheet music, map, plan, chart or table.

When sending legal deposit material to the National Library please ensure that there is a name and address attached so that the legal deposit receipt can be sent. No other forms are required.

New South Wales

Legal Deposit
State Library of New
South Wales

Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
T: (02) 9273 1489
E: orders@sl.nsw.gov.au

Legal Deposit Officer
NSW Parliamentary Library
Parliament House
Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
T: (02) 9230 2384
F: (02) 9230 2640
E: libreq@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Legal Deposit Officer
University of Sydney Library
University of Sydney NSW 2006
T: 02 9351 7268
F: 02 9351 7305
E: legaldeposit@library.usyd.edu.au

Legal deposit is required under the New South Wales Copyright Act 1879-1952, ss 5-7.
The Act requires that a copy of every 'book' first published in New South Wales be lodged within two months of publication.'Book' is defined in the Act as any book, newspaper, pamphlet, leaflet, music, map, chart or plan separately published and 'bound', sewed or stitched together'.

Legal deposit is also required with the National Library.

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Northern Territory

Legal Deposit Officer
Northern Territory Library
GPO Box 42
Darwin NT 0801
T: 08 8999 3929
F: 08 8999 6920
E: NTL.Deposit@nt.gov.au

Legal deposit is required under the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004. This Act requires documents published in the Northern Territory be deposited within two months of publication.

'Document' means any document available to the public including books, newspapers, magazines, periodicals, reports, newsletters, calendars, directories, handbooks, guides, sheet music, maps, pamphlets, audio cassettes, video cassettes, films, multimedia kits, computer magnetic tape, computer optical discs, floppy discs, compact discs, CDROMs, DVDs. The Act also includes Internet Publications including websites and PDF files.

Legal deposit is also required with the National Library.

Queensland

Library Deposits (Queensland)
Resource Discovery Unit
State Library of Queensland
P O Box 3488
South Brisbane QLD 4101
T: 07 3840 7880
F: 07 3846 1926
E: heritage@slq.qld.gov.au

I: www.slq.qld.gov.au

Parliamentary Librarian
Parliamentary Library
Parliament House
George Street
Brisbane QLD 4001
T: 07 3406 7199
F: 07 3210 0172
E: library.acquisitions@parliament.qld.gov.au

Legal deposit is required under the Queensland Libraries Act 1988 which replaces Part VIII of the Libraries and Archives Act 1988 . The Act requires that material published in Queensland is deposited within one month of publication with the State Librarian and the Librarian of the Parliamentary Library.

Material is defined as every part or division of a book, periodical, piece of sheet music, map or chart, also non-print material on audio tape, film, video recording, disk, microfilm or microfiche. Material is considered to have been published if reproductions of the material or edition have been supplied (whether by sale or otherwise) to the general public.

Legal deposit is also required with the National Library.

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South Australia

Legal Deposit
State Library of South Australia
GPO Box 419
ADELAIDE SA 5001
T: (0)8 8207 7261
T: (0)8 8207 7281
F: (0)8 8207 7307
I: www.slsa.sa.gov.au

Parliamentary Librarian
South Australian Parliament Research Library
GPO Box 572
Adelaide SA 5001
T: 08 8237 9398
F: 08 8212 1797
E: ILL@parliament.sa.gov.au

Legal deposit is required under the South Australian Libraries Act 1982, s35 and Libraries Act Amendment Act, 1989. The Acts require that material published in South Australia be deposited within one month after publicationn. Material includes a book, or a part or division of a book: a newspaper, magazine, journal or pamphlet: a map, plan, chart or table: printed music: a record, cassette, film, video or audio tape, disk or other item made available to the public, designed to store and facilitate the reproduction of visual images, sound or information.

Legal deposit is also required with the National Library.

Tasmania

Legal Deposit Officer
State Library of Tasmania
91 Murray Street
Hobart TAS 7000
T: 03 6233 7502
F: 03 6233 7506
E: Heritage.Collections@education.tas.gov.au

I: www.statelibrary.tas.gov.au

Legal deposit is required under the Tasmanian Libraries Act 1984, s 22. The Act requires that a book published in Tasmania be deposited within one month of publication. “ 'Book' means any book, periodical, newspaper, printed matter, map, plan, music, manuscipt, picture, print, motion picture, sound recording, photographic negative or print, microphotography, videorecording and any other matter or thing whereby words, sounds or images are recorded or reproduced”.

Legal deposit is also required with the National Library.

Victoria

Legal Deposit Officer
State Library of Victoria
328 Swanston Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
T: 03 8664 7141 (books)

T: 03 8664 7139 (periodicals)
F: 03 9663 1480
E: MonoAcq@slv.vic.gov.au

I: www.slv.vic.gov.au

Legal deposit is required under the Victorian Libraries Act 1988, s49. The Act requires the deposit within two months of every new publication published in Victoria. Publication includes every book, periodical, newspaper, musical score, map, chart, plan, picture, photograph, print and any other printed matter, any microfiche or microfilm and a range of other types of publication.

Legal deposit is also required with the National Library.

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Western Australia

Legal Deposit
Battye Library
State Library of Western Australia
Alexander Library Building
Perth Cultural Centre
Perth WA 6000
T: 08 9427 3274
F: 08 9427 3256
E: collection.development@slwa.gov.au

Legal deposit was required under the Western Australian Copyright Act 1895, ss 4, 7-9. The Act required that a book published in Western Australia be deposited within two months of publication.

This Act was repealed in 1994. In this Act “publication”meant a 'book, newspaper, magazine, journal, pamphlet, map, plan, chart or table, printed music, a film, tape, disc or other device…, and anything prescribed to be a publication for the purposes of this definition'.

Until legal deposit legislation is reinstated the State Library of Western Australia hopes that publishers will abide by the spirit of legal deposit. Deposit material is housed in the JS Battye Library of Western Australian History.

Legal deposit is also required with the National Library.

Copyright

Legal deposit should not be confused with copyright. Under the Copyright Act 1968 copyright protection is granted automatically in Australia from the moment of creating a work. There are no formalities to be completed, such as registration or payment of fees. Publication is not necessary for copyright to subsist in the work except in the case of sound and television broadcasts and publishers' copyright in editions of works. However, library records and the legal deposit receipt issued to the publisher by some legal deposit libraries may be used as evidence of date of issue.

The Australian Copyright Council can provide advice to authors and publishers on copyright. The address of the Australian Copyright Council is:

245 Chalmers Street
Redfern NSW 2016.
T: 02 9318 1788
F: 02 9698 3536
E: info@copyright.org.au
I: http://www.copyright.org.au

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