Who Should be Interested in Electronic Deposit?

Any Canadian individual, collective body or corporation that produces and publishes electronic publications of any type should be interested in electronic deposit with NLC.

The Professional Publishing Community

As the Publishers' Window on the Government of Canada site demonstrates, there is a wide range of existing government services for traditional publishers of all types. Professional publishers of books, music, periodicals and reference materials who have a long-standing relationship with NLC and recognize the benefits of this relationship (for posterity as well as themselves) will also recognize the advantages of depositing their electronic documents in a manner analogous to the way that they've always handled their print documents. But in the new world of electronic publications, many non-traditional 'publishers', such as makers of software, builders of databases, portals and other types of information services can also benefit from government services in general and the NLC's electronic deposit program in particular.

Self-Publishers

In a digital world, everyone can be a publisher. Much of the stigma traditionally associated with 'self-publishing' is disappearing rapidly as an increasing number of individuals begin to produce professional-quality electronic publications. Through depositing with the NLC, self-publishers can help to assure that their work is assigned the proper identifying numbers, catalogued by the Library and made accessible in definitive form to the widest possible audience.

Benefits of Electronic Deposit

A Worldwide Audience

By placing an electronic document in the NLC's collection, publishers immediately increase the size and range of the audience for their publication by placing it in a high-traffic, centralized but secure location. The NLC site receives hits from all over the world; such traffic can drive readers and potential customers to the publisher's home site in search of further information and/or similar products.

Organization and Classification

Through its ISBN and ISSN programs, the NLC can arrange for a publisher to apply for such a standardized number before publication. Thus, subsequent deposit at the NLC of an electronic publication with such a number assures that customers and readers can locate the publication with ease and confidence. NLC provides bibliographic access to the networked electronic publications it stores through free access to its AMICUS database and associated products.

Backup, Redundancy And Posterity

The National Library takes preservation measures to ensure the content, functionality, and presentation of all archived networked electronic publications will remain intact for the long term, and that the publication will be accessible on an ongoing basis. Many businesses and most individuals cannot afford a full-time archivist; for this reason alone, electronic deposit is an incredibly useful service for all electronic publishers, because it ensures that their publications will be tracked, described, and stored in a secure location other than their own premises.

The National Library preserves networked electronic publications in standard formats. It will also accept electronic publications in non-standard formats, in some cases (when necessary, feasible, and agreed to by the publisher) converting them to more standard formats. In general, the NLC does not compress the electronic publications in its collections. While the National Library currently handles all of the work related to its electronic publications collection, in the future it may enter into agreements with other institutions to ensure the collection, preservation, and access, of some types of Canadian networked publications.