Deposit collections of electronic publications
The European Commission, DG XIII, has published a study entitled "Deposit collections of electronic publications". The study is one of a series on "Libraries in the Information Society", carried out under the "Libraries" sector of the Community's specific RTD programme in the field of telematics applications. The study focuses on the problems and needs of maintaining complete collections of published material in new digital formats. Whilst most countries require publishers to deposit copies of all published printed material in certain "deposit libraries", these legal requirements often do not apply to publications in electronic formats. The conclusions of the study underline the need to extend deposit requirements to electronic formats. The study however recognizes that, in view of the constantly changing nature of electronic publishing, there is a need to maintain flexible rules in respect of electronic formats.