What’s new in Legal Deposit

Recent information on Legal Deposit regulations applying to online publications.

Depositing to the Electronic Collection

To "archive" an online publication means to provide an electronic copy of the publication to the Electronic Collection so that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) can store, provide long-term access to, and preserve the intellectual content of the publication on a permanent basis.

Publishers who deposit online publications with Library and Archives Canada for archiving assure the integrity and authenticity of their online publications for future generations.

To deposit your websites, electronic monographs or electronic serials that are accessible online, please send an e-mail message to epe@lac-bac.gc.ca, indicating the URL, title, publisher's name, e-mail address and any other relevant information. You can also deposit your online publications to the Electronic Collection by using LAC's upload platform.

Facts about the Electronic Collection

The Electronic Collection of Library and Archives Canada consists of Canadian websites, books and periodicals published online. It includes more than 20,000 titles and more than 75,000 serial issues published by both the commercial publishing sector and the government publishing sector. The archived publications exist in various formats, including HTML, PDF, ASCII and LIT, i.e., the format in which they were produced. In some cases, certain software such as Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer, Ghostview www.cs.wisc.edu/%7Eghost/index.html, or Microsoft Reader is required to read publication content. Archived online publications are catalogued in the same manner as printed publications, and bibliographic records are available via AMICUS Web. Some titles labelled "Restricted Access" are accessible through LAC staff or by using the public Internet workstations in the Library Reference Room.

A Brief History of the Electronic Collection

Following an internal study carried out in 1993, the National Library of Canada conducted a pilot project in 1994 and 1995 to acquire, preserve and catalogue a small number of Canadian electronic journals. In 1996, the final report of the pilot project was published and made available to the public. In January 1997, the catalogued titles appeared in Canadiana, the National Bibliography. The year 1997 also saw the creation of the Electronic Publications Acquisitions Section, and in 1998, the Library developed the Networked Electronic Publications Policy and Guidelines. In 2005, the Electronic Publications Aquisitions Section changed its name to Legal Deposit - Internet Unit.

While these developments were taking place, another project involving Statistics Canada publications came to fruition in 1996. Headed by Statistics Canada www.statcan.ca/start.html and the Depository Services Program http://dsp-psd.communication.gc.ca/index-e.html, the project involved the participation of the National Library as a depository library. The results of this experience are presented in the document entitled Electronic Publications Pilot 1996/97: Final Report.