E-Legal Deposit Arrangements

Abstract

  The extension of legal deposit, its adaptation to the digital universe, was recognized as a constructive solution for the collection and preservation, as well as the provision of access to dematerialized objects of national bibliographic control. In this regard, by referring to the results of relevant and current international surveys about e-legal deposit arrangements, this paper assumes that the success and stability of national bibliographic control in a changing environment, and in countries that have a tradition of legal deposit legislation and are about to begin with the collection and preservation of the dematerialized national bibliographic control objects, lies in redefinition of existing national legal deposit legislation. The paper emphasizes the advantages of such an approach and concludes that planning and organization of national bibliographic control, that is followed by raising awareness about the importance of the legal deposit, and respecting the specific tradition of national bibliographic control, but primarily information needs of users, should be accompanied with the redefinition of the national copyright laws, and other related laws, which frequently paralyze the core values of the legal deposit in terms of providing access to the legal deposit collections.