Legal deposit is a requirement under the Copyright Act 1968 that has enabled the National Library of Australia to collect Australian publications for more than 100 years. It ensures that a comprehensive collection of published material relating to Australia and its people is preserved for the community and future generations.
See Legal deposit Australia wide to find out about your state or territory legal deposit requirements.
On 17 February 2016, the legal deposit provisions were extended to cover the online publishing landscape. This includes all Australian print and electronic books, journals, magazines, newsletters, reports, sheet music, maps, websites and public social media. Legal deposit applies to any Australian person, group or organisation that makes this material available to the public for sale or for free.
To make legal deposit as straightforward as possible, we consulted with Australian publishers to produce a formal guide to the requirements for depositing electronic publications, below.
