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National Strategy for Provision of Access to Australian Electronic Publications: A National Library of Australia Position Paper

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* Background * Guaranteeing Long-term Access * Legal Deposit * Collection Development * Access, Copyright and Fair Dealing * Organising

* Appendix 1 - Legal Deposit Legislation from Norway, Canada, USA, and France * References

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Background

The following paper outlines the National Library of Australia's proposal for a national strategy to provide access to Australian electronic publications. It focuses on Australian publishing, while recognising that many of the topics discussed will apply to all electronic publications, regardless of origin. The purpose of the paper is to initiate debate on the many issues raised by electronic publishing, in particular to the issue of guaranteeing current and longer-term access, and to invite comment which may lead to collaborative approaches to resolution of the many challenges presented by the new media. The Library is committed to the view that collaboration is essential. It does not, however, have preconceived ideas as to how collaboration is best achieved, and seeks the ideas of others to help take forward this process.

Copies of the paper are being distributed widely among all those whom the Library believes to have an interest in these issues. This includes libraries which currently have responsibility for legal deposit collections as well as other libraries and institutions which may seek to assume responsibility for longer term access to electronic resources or which have an interest in provision of services such as resource discovery and current access. The Library regards it as essential that creators, publishers and collectors of electronic publications should be included in considering issues of long-term access and conditions covering access.

We solicit your comments on any aspect of the issues covered in this paper. If there are areas which you consider important, which are not addressed, please let us know. Comments and responses should be forwarded to:

Warren Horton, Director-General National Library of Australia Canberra ACT 2000 E-mail: W.horton@nla.gov.au

by October 31, 1996.

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An electronic publication has been defined as one which results from an act of publishing in which information is encoded, accessed and made intelligible and accessible through the use of a computer. It is characterised by being released for public access whether it is made available for or distributed free or for sale. ... Data contained in the electronic publication can be static or dynamic, that is to say subject to potential or actual continuous change. [1]

Such publications may be newly created works or works resulting from the conversion of works in other formats into electronic form. Electronic publications may be divided into two types: those which are distributed in multiple copies in physical formats, and those which are held on host computers and are accessible through a communications network. This strategy paper deals with both types of electronic publication.

The last three years have seen an exponential growth in the amount of electronic publishing and networked information potentially available for access by libraries. It is apparent that this emerging form will never completely displace traditional paper-based publishing technologies, but will become an increasingly important medium to be taken into account in providing library services. While the main thrust of this paper is towards provision of longer-term access to electronic publications, this issue cannot be addressed in isolation. There are other significant and associated issues which require the attention of all stakeholders in this area: legal deposit, access conditions, including copyright and fair dealing, resource discovery, development of standards (eg metadata standards) and organisation of virtual resources could all benefit from a collaborative approach.

Whereas libraries have built up close working relationships with traditional print publishers involving a mutual appreciation of the respective roles of print publishing and libraries, it is likely that electronic publishing will involve a new range of players, and that new relationships and understandings will need to be forged. Libraries will need to publicise their roles and interests in electronic publishing, and listen to the needs and concerns of producers. Areas of joint interest and activity need to be identified.

Guaranteeing Long-term Access

Issues

Electronic publishing and ensuring continued access to digital documents present a number of difficult issues for libraries and collecting institutions. Electronic media are vulnerable and transient, and the primary responsibility for guaranteeing long-term access to such material is as yet little discussed in Australia, let alone agreed. Although Australian libraries have a good record of collaboration in matters of mutual interest, co-operation in guaranteeing long-term access to electronic publications is likely to involve a range of new stakeholders, and necessitate new strategic alliances.

Legal deposit is a key factor in ensuring continuing access. Because there is no existing mechanism for the legal deposit of many electronic publications, it is a matter of urgency that a strategy be put into place to ensure the survival of, and continued access to, these early electronic publications. While the initial means of access to digital information objects rests with the creator of the object, libraries and collecting institutions vested with the obligation to ensure the long-term accessibility of digital-form heritage material cannot rely on creators and publishers to exercise a continuing responsibility. Creators and publishers may have no interest in keeping information which has lost its immediate commercial value; they may destroy the information if they are not equipped, funded or knowledgeable enough to continue to ensure access; or they may cease to exist, and allow the information to disappear. Where they may choose to keep the information, public access may not be allowed. Australian libraries and collecting institutions need to exercise a collective responsibility to ensure that significant and valued electronic publications continue to exist and be able to be accessed, and this responsibility will necessarily involve co-operation with the custodians and providers of such information. Appropriate government policies and legal deposit provisions are essential to undergird this endeavour.

As well as the difficulties of organising a co-ordinated national approach to guaranteeing long-term access to electronic publications, there are unresolved technical issues to be confronted. These include the necessity to reformat material involving conversion from one format or medium to another. (The only alternative strategy, the maintenance of obsolete hardware and operating systems, does not seem viable given the pace of technological change anticipated over the next ten or twenty years). Details of how a continuous program of updating, through migration or refreshment, as a digital preservation strategy might work remain to be developed. For multimedia publications it may not be possible to keep the "look and feel", and interactive or dynamic aspects of these publications may be lost.

Initiatives

The National Library is prepared to play an active role in providing guidelines for ensuring continuing long-term access to electronic publications, and in initiating a series of discussions at a national level, on the issues involved. This consultative process will also involve the Office of the Distributed National Collection and the National Preservation Office which has been active in producing a draft statement of principles for the preservation of Australian digital objects.[2]

In house, electronic publications destined for long term preservation at the Library are being selected, and the National Library plans to store a selection of important networked publications on its server. Where necessary, permission from producers will be sought. As well as the creation of records for documents selected, a range of different methods for the transfer or capture of information will be explored. A range of options for storage will be examined, including transfer in full in existing formats, full conversion to an "NLA standard format" (not yet determined), full maintenance of links, including external links, maintenance of selected links, maintenance of internal links, text only, or retention of selected portions only. These options will be examined in terms of effectiveness, usefulness, and resources required. The National Library expects that it will eventually guarantee long-term access to a large number of Australian electronic publications, but that it will be joined in this endeavour by a number of other bodies having a proprietary interest in providing continuing access to electronic publications for a variety of reasons.

Because long-term access to physical format electronic publications is also an issue for libraries, the National Library is also undertaking a separate study on the optimum method for ensuring the survival of this category of publication.

Recommendations

1. That long-term access to Australian electronic publications be developed as a cooperative process involving libraries, archives, producers and creators.

Legal Deposit

Issues

A vital part of any nation's cultural heritage exists in the publications which document the accumulated knowledge, activities and achievements of its citizens in all fields of human endeavour. Legal deposit is the usual means by which libraries and collecting institutions ensure that this cultural heritage is preserved and survives for future use and study.

Legal deposit is the requirement, binding on publishers and enforceable by law, to deposit with one or more designated institutions a copy or copies of their publications. The principle of legal deposit is established in international convention and national legislation, and aims to ensure the survival of a nation's published cultural material in libraries and archives. Legal deposit at the national level in Australia is specified in the Copyright Act, 1968, [3] and at the state level through a variety of acts. [4] This legislation has been a major factor in the successful collection of the Australia's printed publishing output, and its survival for future use and study.

Electronic publications form a growing subset of the national publishing output, and provide an intellectual record of national cultural heritage in the same way as other forms of publication. Legal deposit provisions, however, do not yet extend to all forms of electronic publication in Australia. Electronic publications, particularly networked publications, are more vulnerable than printed items, and at greater risk of disappearance. They require the protection of legal deposit arrangements if they are to survive for future use.

Because designated depositary institutions are made responsible by governments for the preservation of the published national heritage, the Library contends that no producer should be allowed to prevent the acquisition or retention of a work by a designated collecting institution for heritage purposes, including the copying of such a work in order to guarantee its survival. While designated legal depositary institutions should have the right to acquire all forms of publication, they should also have the right to select what is judged to be of lasting cultural value. It has never been possible to collect everything available in print: the rapidly increasing availability of electronic materials makes it likely that some materials will not be collected at all, and others only by sample. The Library accepts that the activities of repository institutions should be publicly accountable, with published policies open to public scrutiny and discussion.

A number of countries in the world have amended their legislative provisions to ensure that libraries and archives are enabled to obtain and guarantee the survival of all forms of electronic publications in the public interest. Many countries where legislation has not yet been introduced or amended are seeking to do so. Two recent and significant developments in this area have been:

* a European Community Workshop on Issues in the Field of National Deposit Collections of Electronic Publications was held in Luxembourg in December 1995 with representatives of both the libraries and publishers, and which concluded

The need for deposit of electronic publications is recognised by libraries and publishers. There is consensus amongst both groups that many materials otherwise risk becoming unavailable to future users, and that the deposit library has a responsibility towards users without alternative means of access

Solutions adopted by national libraries in the area of deposit should recognise the rights of publishers and the legitimacy of their demands for fair return and protection against unfair use [5]

* the formation of a working group by the Conference of Directors of National Libraries. This Group has completed a report which will be made available later in 1996. The report is intended as a guide to nations seeking legal deposit and provides advice as to the issues which must be addressed as part of this process.

A full account of current international legal deposit legislation for non-print materials can be found in a recent report from the British Library.[6] Notable examples include Norway, Canada, the USA and France and in all of these countries active attempts are being made to collect electronic materials and examine associated technical and organisational issues. Appendix 1 provides select details of legislation.

In Australia, questions of copyright reform, including the issue of legal deposit, are under review by the Copyright Law Review Committee (CLRC) in its Reference to Review and Simplify the Copyright Act 1968. This inquiry has a date of 30 November 1997 by which to complete its report to government.

Initiatives

The National Library together with the National Film and Sound Archive has made a submission to the Copyright Law Review Committee seeking endorsement of the principle of legal deposit; the recognition of the principle of selection by the depositary institution; the extension of the scope of publications covered by legislation to include all electronic formats; and the extension of the definition of the term "publication". Both institutions see legal deposit as an essential mechanism for achieving the national policy objectives of the preservation of the Australian published cultural heritage and public access to it.

Legal deposit is considerably easier to apply to artefactual electronic publications such as CD-ROMs, disks and tapes, than to networked information resources such as home pages and digital documents. For example, physical artefacts are clearly published from a specific geographical location, but with networked digital publications geographic location often becomes irrelevant. For networked publications where there is no physical item to "deposit", the current model for legal deposit is inadequate and will need to be redefined. Such redefinition can most successfully be achieved by discussion and agreement between creators and publishers and the repositories.

In the interim, while there is no Commonwealth legal obligation on producers to deposit their electronic publications, the National Library has established a voluntary deposit scheme for producers of CD-ROMs and other physical forms of electronic publication whereby the published items are deposited with the Library and a deed signed.

It should be noted that no Australian state has adequate legal deposit legislation for all forms of electronic publication. While some state legislation encompasses tangible electronic forms such as cartridges, disks, tapes and CD-ROMs to varying degrees, none covers networked information. There is no legal deposit legislation at all for the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Consequently there is scope for library cooperation in pressing for legislative reform at a number of levels.

Recommendations

2. That libraries and other institutions concerned with deposit as a means of guaranteeing long term access to national cultural heritage, press for the reform of Australia's legal deposit legislation at the national and state levels to ensure that all forms of electronic publication are adequately covered by deposit legislation.

3. That deposit libraries be given the right to copy electronic publications for guaranteeing long term access and ensuring the survival of the information

4. That libraries and other institutions concerned with deposit raise awareness of the issues involved through the development of links with all parties involved in the creation and publication of Australian electronic publications. Such approaches should focus on the mutual benefits resulting from closer relations

5. That libraries which are currently designated as having a responsibility for legal deposit formulate agreements to ensure complete coverage of deposit, recognising that it may be appropriate to involve publishers and other libraries in the process

Collection Development

Issues

The issue of collection development in an electronic world is a complex one. For those libraries with a responsibility for providing long tem access, collection development implies the selection of materials for which a responsibility for preservation is assumed, whatever form that may take. For other libraries, collection development implies provision of access to materials which, even if not held on site, would relate to the interests of their clients and which may require some kind of bibliographic organisation to facilitate discovery and access.

While the selection and acquisition of electronic publications in physical format is akin to that of printed materials, the selection of networked electronic publications presents a number of dilemmas for collecting institutions. A basic problem with networked information is that of discovery, that is, knowing what is available. A further problem is choosing from a large set of potentially relevant resources those most relevant to a user's needs. There are also difficulties related to the dynamic nature of electronic publications, and to problems of authentication of content. The nature of networked publishing is that there are constantly changing documents frequently being revised or updated and these may need to be collected more than once to preserve representative samples. Documents in electronic form may be altered or changed easily, giving rise to problems of identifying which is the final or authoritative version of the document to be selected or preserved.

Initiatives

In 1996 the National Library of Australia established an Electronic Unit to develop the Library's collecting of networked electronic resources, and a committee to define and implement an infrastructure for the management of documents in electronic form and to develop guidelines for the selection of such documents. [7] These guidelines are expected to be finalised towards the end of 1996. At a practical level this involves selecting electronic publications for the national collection, and establishing contact with the creators and producers to seek permission to preserve. A pilot project to bring onsite a number of electronic publications is in process and it is hoped that this will lead to the creation of an electronic archive capable of being managed to ensure continuing access.

The Library will apply the principles of its Collection Development Policy for Australian Materials to material in electronic form with which it wishes to establish and maintain long-term access. However, there are some differences between the print and electronic environments. The quantity of electronic networked publishing is vast. Qualitatively too, a large amount of electronic publishing is ephemeral in nature. Developing selection guidelines has been a slow process and a variety of approaches will be taken by the Library. Some of this material may be "collected" comprehensively, for example the Library's own electronic publications. Other categories will be selected by sampling only. Still other material in electronic form, such as promotional sites and advertising, will be of no interest to the Library, while a small category may be of interest for a short time only while its information content is current. A clearer picture of what is being selected nationally will emerge as Australian libraries and collecting institutions define more closely their roles in the collecting of all forms of electronic publications, physical and networked.

In the absence of legal deposit legislation, in 1995 the Library set out to collect CD-ROMs and other physical electronic formats through a voluntary deposit scheme. Publishers have for the most part responded positively to this scheme, which was set up to demonstrate that deposit was compatible with meeting the commercial expectations of publishers.

Recommendations

6. That libraries which accept a responsibility for assured long-term access to Australian electronic publications, prepare and publish collection development policies and that policies be related to the development of a distributed national collection of such materials

7. That libraries which accept a responsibility for assured long-term access to Australian electronic publications work together to establish common guidelines on the type and nature of publications which will be selected, and the methods of selection (e.g. individual selection, or sampling)

Access, Copyright and Fair Dealing

Issues

In most countries, including Australia, the public have access to much of their intellectual and cultural documentary heritage through publicly funded libraries and archives. Acting in the public interest, libraries and archives collect both to ensure the survival of a nation's publications, and to provide public access to them. In so doing, they also serve the interests not only of the public, but of publishers and creators by promoting awareness of their works' existence, housing and preserving them, and in some cases physically safeguarding them for later exploitation by the copyright holder.

Because electronic publications, and specifically networked information, can be copied with ease in a way that was never possible for printed materials, there is reluctance on the part of many creators and producers to allow public access to these materials in case their economic interests suffer through unreasonable copying. Secure container technology through the use of encryption can be expected to become more widespread, resulting in the anomalous situation whereby access is more strictly controlled at precisely the same time as technology offers the means of providing greater access. While libraries and archives recognise the rights and rewards due to authors and copyright holders, they also hold that users should not be restricted or denied access for purposes of research and study which is ultimately in the public interest.

The Library recognises that current copyright law is in need of amendment to accommodate the changes introduced by electronic publishing. It supports the 1994 statement of the Copyright Convergence Group that:

The challenge for copyright law in this new environment is to demonstrate that it can continue to effectively provide a just and acceptable balance between the valid interests of intellectual property rights owners and the public interest in fair and reasonable access to a wide range of information. [8]

In the traditional print world, the right of the individual to read and to browse is accepted. Libraries are permitted to lend materials, and individuals to borrow. Certain copying rights for individuals are specified as fair dealing provisions. Libraries and archives too have certain conditions set out under which they may copy on behalf of users or for other libraries and archives, and for preservation purposes. The Library is of the view that these conditions are designed to provide community access to copyright materials and that these principles should be maintained for the electronic environment.

The Library has made a submission to the Copyright Law Review Committee in support of these objectives and setting out the view that freedom to publish must be balanced by the right of access. In particular, the Library is concerned to ensure that the notion of fair dealing is maintained:

In the electronic environment, this means the ability to read and browse without paying individual transaction fees, in order to assess and evaluate information before deciding to select. The notion of metering all access and requiring payment for individual paragraphs or sentences from larger works is not desirable. [9]

The Library recognises the difficulties entailed in balancing the rights of users and of copyright holders in the electronic environment. It recognises, however, that there are risks inherent in too tight a degree of control. In the present situation, for example, the Library sees that it has a role to play in provision of access to users who are physically remote, or who do not have access to the technical facilities required to obtain access. Libraries have traditionally had copying rights for people in those circumstances, and it would seem equitable that such rights be continued. Libraries have been permitted to copy for the purposes of document supply, where that does not exceed fair dealing provisions, and similarly this permission should be maintained.

For libraries with a deposit role, there is a particular need, not at present met within existing law. This is the need for such libraries to be able to copy electronic publications for preservation purposes, where preservation may involve a range of possible approaches such as reformatting, refreshing or migration.

Initiatives

The National Library has entered into negotiations and agreements with a number of Australian CD-ROM producers aimed at making their voluntarily deposited products publicly available at the Library under certain conditions designed to safeguard commercial interests. It is currently investigating access issues associated with online electronic publishing.

The National Library has made submissions to the Copyright Law Review Committee on issues related to copyright in the electronic environment and to legal deposit (the latter in association with the National Film and Sound Archive). The Library works actively with Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services (ACLIS) to ensure that the interests of libraries are represented to Government.

Recommendations

8. That Australian libraries with deposit responsibilities work together with publishers and creators to develop mutually satisfactory levels of access, both short and longer-term, for deposited publications

9. That Australian libraries endorse the ongoing work of ACLIS in seeking that fair dealing principles be applied to public access of electronic publications

10. That copying rights as set out for the print environment be extended into the electronic environment as a means of maintaining a balance between the rights of copyright holders and the rights of the community to have access

11. That the right to copy for preservation purposes be extended to the electronic environment

Organising

Issues

Electronic media in discrete physical format have generally presented little difficulty for libraries in terms of bibliographic control. They have taken their place alongside other non-book materials, and are controlled as items belonging to the library's collections. However, the bibliographic control of networked electronic information resources does present challenges due to the mobility and instability of these objects which reside in virtual space.

The desirability or otherwise of providing bibliographical control for networked electronic publications has been vigorously debated. Opponents of the idea of libraries attempting to impose bibliographical control on the constantly proliferating number of networked publications have argued that their volume is beyond the available human resources which would be required. They have pointed to the development of Net search tools such as WAIS and Net search engines such as Infoseek and Lycos as providing a way to search networked resources. Some Australian libraries have taken the view that their historical task of providing intellectual and physical access to material is no less valid in the changed environment, and point to the fact that search tools and search engines do not reduce the need for systems and tools that can provide efficient subject-oriented assistance, and an integrated approach covering both print and electronic publications.

Internet finding tools encompass a range of efforts to organise Internet resources. The most common are:

* Indexing by means of robots or spiders (Lycos, Harvest, Webcrawler, etc.) * Subject listings with or without indexes built over the collected resource (WWW Virtual Libraries, Michigan subject guides, Australasian Legal Information Institute listings, Aussie index, etc.) * Co-operatively built subject libraries, with or without indexes built over the collected resource (Subject Interest Networks (SINs), Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library (EEVL), etc.) * Traditional cataloguing, centralised or decentralised (OCLC Internet Catalog, OCLC Net First, CATRIONA)

Each model has its strengths and limitations. The powerful web robots or search engines such as Lycos or Alta-Vista use what has been referred to as the "vacuum approach", that is, they index everything on the WWW indiscriminately. This is both a strength and a weakness, as they index comprehensively, gathering the marginal and the trivial, as well as the valuable, to produce voluminous results. As a consequence, there is a growing recognition of the need for selection and evaluation of the resources being indexed.

The subject approach to the organisation of information on the Internet is becoming more and more common, and is increasingly being seen as a way of providing structured and predictable access to quality Internet resources. These subject collections range from selected resources on a fairly specific topic such as in the case of the University of Michigan guides, to wide ranging "gateways" to a broad subject area such as the Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library (EEVL) or Social Sciences Information Gateway (SOSIG), both of which are supported by the UK Digital Libraries Programme. Subject collections also form the basis of services such as the WWW Virtual Library and Yahoo. In Australia there are the Subject Interest Networks (SINs) promoted by David Green at Charles Sturt University. These "collections" have the potential to provide excellent access to selected and evaluated resources on the Internet, especially if an indexing robot is run against the resources in the collections for more specific access to individual documents. This is the model being used by the ROADS project in conjunction with the SOSIG and OMNI subject gateways.

Library cataloguing models such as OCLC and CATRIONA use well-established library bibliographic standards for the description of both hardcopy and networked electronic publications. These descriptive surrogates do not pose great difficulties as the special features of electronic publications can be handled through extensions to existing standards such as the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2), ISBD(CF) which is currently under revision, and the MARC format. Additional data, such as preservation data and data regarding operating systems, can be accommodated in this way. The advantages of library cataloguing models lie in the selection process and in the integration in a library's system of both print and electronic resources.

It is too early to make judgments about the relative value of these approaches: it may be that each approach is valid for particular users and finding strategies.

A serious problem for those organising access to electronic networked resources arises from the unreliability of Internet addresses. These addresses or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) frequently change for a number of reasons including hardware reconfiguration, file system reorganisation or even changes in organisational structure. Once the URL fails, all instances of that URL (for example, links in a Web document or a bibliographic record) become invalid. For libraries this changeability compromises service to clients and imposes an unacceptably large burden on catalogue maintenance.

To provide stability a solution has been devised by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) through the development of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). These identifiers are intended to provide reliable addressing of electronic resources. For example, the proposed Uniform Resource Name (URN) protocol is intended to devise names for Internet resources that are persistent, location independent, and globally unique, in much the same way as an international standard book number. Formulating agreement on the development of Universal Resource Identifiers among the Internet community is slow, but should continue to be supported, with libraries contributing their experience and expertise in information management.

In one area, libraries have implemented an interim solution to the problem. Under the leadership of OCLC a naming system and resolution service for catalogued Internet resources giving systematic and reliable access to named resources has been established. The Persistent URLs (PURLs), instead of pointing directly to the location of an Internet resource, point to an intermediate resolution service. The resolution service associates the PURL with a specific URL and completes the appropriate network transfer. Though the URL may change, the PURL remains the same. PURLs are based in the DNS and HyperText Transport Protocols (HTTP) and use the accepted and stable syntax of URLs. The development of PURLs is seen as an intermediate step towards the time when URNs are an integral part of Internet information architecture.

Libraries need to define a simple, easily applicable standard for describing network accessible information resources. Ideally these metadata elements need to be simple enough for creators and producers to incorporate as they put their documents on the Net, and yet detailed enough to enable the discovery and retrieval of these documents by others. Such descriptive metadata to be included in electronic publications, or provided as a header with publications, is not yet agreed among producers and libraries. Promising work in this area is being carried out, with examples such as the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) header (an application of SGML); the IETF Working Group on Document Identifiers; and the "Dublin Core" Metadata Set proposed at the OCLC/NCSA Metadata Workshop in March 1995. A more recent conference at Warwick in the United Kingdom in April 1996 took this work one stage further by exploring prospects for improved interoperability and further refinement of proposed standards for the representation of metadata. The application of SGML to Internet resource discovery appears to be a promising line of research.

Other issues, particularly for deposit and national libraries are the authentication of networked publications, and the extension of cataloguing in publication activities to the electronic publishing environment. It is important for the deposit library to ensure that its copy of an electronic publication is the authentic version intended by the producer. This version needs to be retained, and be used in providing a mechanism for automatic authenticity checking of electronic documents. The technologies for enabling this to be done are still under development: encryption, digital signatures and digital time stamping will eventually enable libraries collecting electronic publications to provide services such as providing signature and certification copies. The cataloguing in publication service for printed publications is well-established, and could be valuable in the electronic publishing arena. Relatively simple schemes such as the Dublin Core could provide a mechanism for publishers to provide data which could form the basis of more systematic and controlled organisation. Cataloguing in publication of electronic documents will be a means of establishing greater standardisation of embedded metadata distributed with electronic publications, enhancing the quality of electronic resource description on networks, serve as an alerting mechanism for other libraries, improve the identification and authentication process, and provide shared cataloguing.

Initiatives

For the National Library, the issues of electronic resource discovery and resource description are closely linked. In controlling such resources, the National Library's policy is to accept responsibility for a high level of control for those resources for which the Library wishes to guarantee long-term access. The Library intends to integrate the control of such resources with that of its print resources and provide its users with direct links to the documents.

Recommendations

12. That until such time as other standards are developed and accepted, the bibliographic control of Australian electronic publications be based on the use of existing standards such as AACR2 and existing practical guidelines for handling networked resources

13. That a cooperative approach be taken by Australian libraries in their cataloguing of Australian electronic resources

14. That libraries and producers of electronic publications work together to develop and evaluate methods for metadata creation using new and developing standards

15. That Australian libraries actively participate in the development of national and international standards for the discovery and retrieval of networked electronic resources

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Appendix 1 - Legal Deposit Legislation from Norway, Canada, USA, and France

Norway [10]

Law of 9 June 1989 on legal deposit of generally available documents, in force since July 1990 and subsequent statutory regulations:

* Categories of material to be deposited under the Act:

documents of a paper or paper-like medium, microforms, and photographs in seven copies, sound recordings, films videograms, EDP documents and combinations of these types of documents in two copies, documentary recordings or broadcast material in one copy.

* The statutory regulations, § 30, further state (translation by Torbjørn Navelsker):

Electronic documents that are duplicated or imported, [such] as magnetic disks, flexible discs, diskettes, magnetic tapes, cassettes etc., in more than 50 copies, are to be deposited in two copies.

Electronic documents made available through telecommunication, television, computer networks etc. are to be deposited in two copies.

Canada [11]

National Library Act 1985, especially Section 13; National Library Book Deposit Regulations 1995.

The Act defines "book" as "library matter of every kind, nature and description and includes any document, paper, record, tape or other thing published by a publisher, on or in which information is written, recorded, stored or reproduced". Two copies must be deposited within one week of publication.

France [12]

Loi N 92-546 du 20 juin 1992 relative au dépôt légal came into force on 1 January 1994 under Décret 93-1429 of 31 December 1993. Material covered under Article 1:

Printed, graphic, photographic, sound, audio-visual, and multi-media documents, whatever the technical means of production, as soon as they are made accessible to the public by the publication of a physical carrier ["support matériel"]. Software, databases, expert systems, and other prodcuts of artificial intelligence are covered as soon as made accessible to the public by the publication of a physical carrier, whatever its nature.

USA [13]

The Copyright Law of the United States provides for legal deposit of publications. "Publication" is defined in § 101 of the Law as:

The distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group or persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display, constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication.

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References

1. Based on Williamson, Michael. [Michael.Williamson@nlc-bnc.ca] Electronic publications. In DIGLIB. [DIGLIB@INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA] 31 October 1995. 2. Draft Statement of Principles [on the] Preservation of and Long Term Access to Australian Digital Objects URL: http://www.nla.gov.au/3/npo/natco/princip.html 3. Commonwealth legislation in Australia provides for the deposit of "library material" with the National Library. Library material is defined in the Copyright Act as a book, periodical, newspaper, pamphlet, sheet of letter-press, sheet of music, map, plan, chart or table, being a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or an edition of such a work, but does not include a second or later edition of any material unless that edition contains additions or alterations in the letter-press or in the illustrations. 4. New South Wales Copyright Act, 1879, Queensland Libraries and Archives Act 1988, South Australia Libraries Act, 1982 [as amended 1989], Tasmania Libraries Act, 1984, Victoria Libraries Act 1988, Western Australia Copyright Act, 1895. 5. Report of the Workshop on Issues in the Field of National Deposit Collections of Electronic Publications, Luxembourg, December 18, 1995. The report can be found at http://www.echo.lu/ 6. Peter Hoare. Legal Deposit of Non-Print Material: an international review, September-October 1995. London, British Library Research and Development Department (British Library R&D Report 6245) 1996. 7. The terms of reference of the Selection Committee on On-Line Australian Publications (SCOAP) can be found at http://www.nla.gov.au/1/scoap/scoap.html 8. Highways to change: copyright in the new communications environment. Report of the Copyright Convergence Group. Canberra, AGPS, 1994. p7. 9. National Library of Australia. Submission to the Copyright Law Review Committee on Reference to Review and Simplify the Copyright Act 1968, August 1995. Full text of the submission can be found at http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/clrc.html 10. Peter Hoare. Legal Deposit of Non-Print Material: an international review, September-October 1995. London, British Library Research and Development Department (British Library R&D Report 6245) 1996. p 115 11. Peter Hoare. Legal Deposit of Non-Print Material: an international review, September-October 1995. London, British Library Research and Development Department (British Library R&D Report 6245) 1996 p 31 12. Peter Hoare. Legal Deposit of Non-Print Material: an international review, September-October 1995. London, British Library Research and Development Department (British Library R&D Report 6245) 1996 p 77 13. Peter Hoare. Legal Deposit of Non-Print Material: an international review, September-October 1995. London, British Library Research and Development Department (British Library R&D Report 6245) 1996 p 163

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