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The information in Part 3 is tailored specifically for Australian Authors. In this section you will learn about the legal requirement to deposit a copy of your book with the National Library of Australia.
What is ‘Legal Deposit’?
It is a legal requirement that Australian authors deposit one copy of every book they publish with the National Library of Australia, within one month of publication.
For more details, please visit the National Library of Australia website: https://www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit/how-to-deposit
The National Library of Australia accepts both print and digital formats – i.e. paperbacks, magazines, maps etc and ebooks. Given the cost of printing a book and posting it, self publishers with both a print and a digital version of their book may wish to deposit only the digital version. To do so, contact the library and ask for the deposit to be digital only.
How to deposit Print material
Send printed material to:
Books
Legal Deposit
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
Journal, magazine and newsletter issues
Australian Serials
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
Sheet music
Music Acquisitions and Cataloguing
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
Maps
Maps Acquisitions and Cataloguing
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
How to deposit Digital material
To deposit your ebook, go to the National Library of Australia home page: https://www.nla.gov.au and select ‘Legal deposit’ from the Using the Library/Services for Publishers sub-menu:
This will take you to the Legal Deposit screen:
Click the bright red ‘Deposit Now’ button. This will take you to the National eDeposit [NED] website: https://ned.gov.au/portal/
Here you can:
- Make an edeposit
- Manage your account
- Create an account
You do not have to create an account with the NED, but if you are likely to self-publish more than one book, it would make sense to have one.
Selecting the type of ePublication to deposit
Click the ‘Make an edeposit’ button.
You should now be looking at a screen that asks what type of ePublication you want to deposit. The two options are : Monograph and Serial.
Monograph is defined as a publication that usually has an ISBN. Examples given include books, series of books, maps etc. Serials have an ISSN and include magazines and newspapers etc.
Monograph
Select ‘Monograph’. A drop down list will display. Select ‘Book/books in series’ as shown:
After specifying the type of publication you wish to deposit, the screen changes to show the upload option:
The NED will only accept the following file types:
- .epub
- .mobi
Note: NED does not accept Word documents.
Find the digital version of the book you wish to deposit and wait until it uploads. Depending on the size of the file, this could take a few minutes:
Next, you will be asked to upload a digital copy of the cover of the book:
Note: the file format of the cover cannot be .pdf. It must be in either .jpg, .jpeg, .tif or .tiff file formats.
Once the cover has finished uploading, click the ‘Next: ePublication details’ button at the bottom of the screen:
ePublication details
The next screen requests information about the publication itself. You will have to enter the title of the book and, as owner of the intellectual content, you will have to enter your name:
‘Owner type’, ‘Given names’ and ‘Last name’ are mandatory. ‘Owner role’ and ‘Birth year’ are optional but it wouldn’t hurt to identify your role as the ‘Author’.
You can also add another owner by pressing the green ‘Add another owner’ button located under ‘Owner type’.
Other information
As with Thorpe-Bowker, you are asked for the publication date. Enter the year in which the book became available for sale or download [if free].
The only other tricky question regards the ‘Edition Statement’. Again, this only applies to books which have been published before. This is the explanation offered by NED:
Click ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ as the case applies.
ISBN
Next, you are asked whether the book has an ISBN:
If your book has an ISBN, select the ‘Yes’ option and then type in the ISBN…but with no hyphens this time.
When you have finished adding information, click the ‘Next: Access Conditions’ button located at the bottom of the screen.
Access conditions
This section refers to how much of your book you allow the public to access, and under what conditions:
Confirm that you have the legal right to set conditions for your book and then decide how much access you will allow.
If your book is available for sale, the two options circled in orange probably strike the best balance between your commercial rights and the purpose of the legal deposit.
Publisher details
As a self-publisher, you will have to enter your own contact details, including name, address, phone and email.
At the bottom, you are asked if you want to create a user account. If you tick ‘Yes’ you will have to enter the standard registration details, but at least you will never have to enter them again.
If you don’t want to create an account, click the ‘Next: Review and submit’ button located at the bottom of the screen.
Review and submit
This screen details the information you have entered in all the previous screens. Right down the bottom is a checkbox:
Ticking the checkbox grants permission for ‘NED Member Libraries to use and manage deposited content as outlined in the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Notice’.
Tick the checkbox and then click the green ‘Submit your edeposit’ button to complete the process.
Legal Deposit in State Libraries
Legal Deposit also requires that you deposit a copy of your book with the library of your home state. https://www.nsla.org.au/legal-deposit-australasia
If you only have a print edition of your book, you will have to send a physical copy to the relevant state library.
If you also have an ebook version of your book, you may request to deposit it instead of a physical copy:
Depositing the ebook with NED ensures that it is available in all states.
Best of luck with your publishing, now and in the future.
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