Imagine someone in 100 years researching how an extreme weather event impacted your community. Or exploring how a local council issue sparked nationwide conversations. Will your reporting be on record to tell the story? By adding your work to the national collection (part of the National Library of Australia), you’re ensuring that future generations can access and learn from the moments that matter today.
Library collections are more than old books — they’re vibrant, accessible collections used by educators, researchers, and curious minds worldwide. From school students to historians, the national collection provides essential context and insight into the Australian experience, connecting communities to their stories and safeguarding the truth for years to come. They’re also a way to reach audiences looking for specific information that you’re likely to have covered when nobody else has.
These collections form a diverse and inclusive picture of the nation and capture what we are thinking, imagining, and writing about over time.
Why archive?
- Keep up with the competition: Ensure your publication has the same lasting impact as other local and independent publications.
- Make your journalism part of history: Be part of the national record, preserving your publication’s role in capturing your community’s stories.
- Expand your reach: Archiving your publication can amplify your stories, connecting them to curious minds across Australia and beyond.
- It’s the law: Legal deposit is a statutory requirement for all Australian publishers (that’s you!)
The good news is, adding your publication to the national collection is usually a simple, set-and-forget process.
What are the archives?
The national collection is maintained by the National Library of Australia, along with state and territory libraries across the country. These libraries use a process known as Legal Deposit to collect materials published in Australia.
Physical copies of publications are stored within the library’s collection, while digital publications are kept in the National eDeposit (NED) system. Once your publication is added to the collection, it becomes discoverable through key platforms like the National and State Library Catalogues, and Trove.
How to deposit your publications
That depends on how you publish your news.
- On a website [go to section]
- Electronic publication (e.g. flipbook, PDF) [go to section]
- Printed publication [go to section]
Website
If you have a digital platform you publish news on (i.e. a website), good news – there’s nothing you need to do. Once you become a LINA member, we arrange for your website to be added to The Australian Web Archive. Once it’s added, your site is automatically scraped once a month and a record of your website is stored at that point in time. This information is searchable through Trove.
Please note: This is for websites not behind a paywall.
Electronic publications
Australia’s national, state, and territory libraries use the National edeposit (NED) service to manage, store, preserve, and deliver digital publications across the country. This service makes it easy for publishers to meet their legal deposit obligations for electronic materials.
a digital publication could be in the form of:
- .epub
- .mobi
An electronic publication is any content—such as books, journals, reports, newsletters, music scores, magazines, newspapers, websites, and more—that is made available to the public in a digital format. These are often referred to as “born-digital” publications, meaning they were created in digital form rather than being converted from print.
The NED service allows you to deposit your digital content once, fulfilling both state/territory library and National Library of Australia obligations.
To begin, you’ll need to set up an account with NED.
Click on “Create an account”
Fill in the form with the required information and click Complete registration:
When you complete the registration, an email will be sent for you to activate your account and set up your password – if you do not receive a verification email, first check your junk folder – if it has not been received, please contact your state or territory library (see the table above for contact information).
Once your password has been created, you will be able to login to the portal to deposit your publication/s:
When making a deposit using the online portal, you will need to:
- Choose what type of electronic publication is being deposited and upload the file. Files must be under 500MB and in one of the following formats:
- Monographs (e.g., books, government publications): .epub, .mobi, or .pdf
- Serials (e.g., journals, magazines, newsletters, newspapers): .epub, .mobi, or .pdf
- Music scores: .epub, .mobi, or .pdf
- Maps: .pdf, .geopdf, .tiff, or .geotiff
- Provide information about the publication you are depositing
- Nominate access conditions for the publication you are depositing
- Nominate a Creative Commons licence for the publication you are depositing (optional)
- Provide information about you as the publisher
- Review the information you have provided prior to submitting your deposit
You can also upload past issues of your ePublication.
You’ll receive an email confirmation once your deposit is successfully completed. You can log in anytime to view your deposit history, modify your details, and adjust access conditions.It’s important to note that electronic publications deposited with NED must be free of technological protection measures or digital rights management (DRM). This means that the file can be opened without the need for a password. This requirement ensures that the materials can be preserved and made accessible for future generations.
Did you know? You are actually obliged to deposit printed and digital publications.
“Legal deposit is a statutory obligation which requires that any organisation, commercial or public, and any individual producing any type of documentation in multiple copies, be obliged to deposit one or more copies with a recognised national institution.”
UNESCO Guidelines for legal deposit legislation, 2000
Legal deposit is a statutory requirement in Australia, meaning that anyone who produces publications in multiple copies must deposit at least one copy with the National Library and, pending the state/territory and whether the publication is digital or print, the relevant state/territory library. This has been a legal requirement for over 100 years.
The law covers all Australian publishers who distribute their work to the public, whether for sale or for free. It includes both printed and digital publications (e.g. a PDF, flip book)
Note: this does not apply to news published on a website.
Publishers are required to submit their materials to the National Library of Australia, and the relevant state or territory library in which they are based, typically within 1–2 months of publication.
Specific requirements for legal deposit vary, see the table below for detailed guidance.
| State | Digital | Audio visual | Contact info | |
| ACT | N | N | N | ACT Heritage Library P: (02) 6207 5163E: act.heritage.library@act.gov.au |
| NSW | Y: Must also send to Parliamentary Library of New South Wales and the Library of the University of Sydney | Y | N | State Library of New South Wales P: (02) 9273 1490E: legal.deposit@sl.nsw.gov.auPostal address: Legal Deposit Level 2 State Library of New South Wales 1 Shakespeare Place Sydney, NSW 2000 Parliamentary Library of NSWP: Phone: (02) 9230 2380E: DPS.Library@parliament.nsw.gov.auPostal address:Parliamentary Librarian Parliament House SYDNEY NSW 2000 University of Sydney LibraryP: (02) 9351 3981E: contact formPostal address:University of Sydney Library University of Sydney NSW 2006, AUSTRALIA |
| NT | Y | Y | Y | Library & Archives NT P: 08 8922 0887E: lant.deposit@nt.gov.auPostal address:GPO BOX 42Darwin 0801 |
| QLD | Y | Y | Y | State Library of Queensland P: (07) 3840 7666 E: legaldeposit@slq.qld.gov.auPostal address:Legal Deposit Metadata Services, Level 4 State Library of Queensland PO Box 3488 South Brisbane QLD 4101 |
| SA | Y: Publishers are also required to send copies of relevant material to the SA Parliamentary Library | Y | Y | State Library of South Australia P: (08) 7424 6300E: SLSA.Publishedcd@sa.gov.auPostal address: Legal Deposit – Published CollectionsState Library of SAGPO Box 419Adelaide SA 5001(Please also fill out this form indicating that the publication has been posted) Parliamentary libraryP: (08) 8237 9311 E: library.services@parliament.sa.gov.auPostal address: South Australian Parliament Research Library GPO Box 572 ADELAIDE S.A. 5001 |
| TAS | Y | Y | Y | Libraries Tasmania P: (03) 6165 5576E: legaldeposit@libraries.tas.gov.auPostal address:Legal Deposit OfficerLibraries Tasmania91 Murray StreetHOBART, TASMANIA 7000(Please also fill out this form) |
| VIC | Y | Y | Y | State Library Victoria P: (03) 8664 7146 E: legaldeposit@slv.vic.gov.auPostal address:Legal Deposit LibrarianState Library Victoria328 Swanston StreetMelbourne Vic 3000 |
| WA | Y | X (likely coming soon) | Y | State Library of Western Australia P: (08) 9427 3348E: legal.deposit@slwa.wa.gov.au Postal address: Legal DepositState Library of Western Australia25 Francis StPerth WA 6000(Please complete this form) |
Print publications
To deposit print publications, post one copy to the National Library of Australia, as well as to your state or territory library (if required—see the table above for details). Some state or territory libraries may also require you to complete a form to accompany your printed publication (see below for links to forms)
Once your publication is deposited, it’s a good practice to add these libraries’ addresses to your mailing list for ongoing submissions.
National Library postal address
Legal Deposit
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
State and Territory library postal addresses
Can I deposit a large number of publications at once?
NED has bulk deposit processes for ePublications. These are available for publishers who have multiple titles to deposit, or a very large quantity to deposit, such as a backlist of electronic publications. It is recommended that bulk deposit processes only be used where there is a minimum of 12 titles.
Contact your member library for guidance on bulk print deposits (see this table for contacts in each state).
If I have both electronic and print publications, do I need to deposit both?
Once you have deposited an electronic publication to NED, your obligations for national legal deposit have been fulfilled.
For state and territory requirements, this depends on the state or territory in which you are based. If your state or territory legislation still requires a print copy, you will need to deposit this with them. In some states there is also a requirement to deposit relevant materials with other deposit libraries.
See the table above for more guidance.
How does NED protect my Intellectual Property?
NED and its member libraries understand the importance of protecting publishers’ commercial interests and the intellectual property of creators. Public access to deposited content will be provided consistent with the Copyright Act 1968 and legal deposit laws and in accordance with the access conditions nominated by depositors though the deposit process.
Publishers can nominate the level of public access allowed when you deposit the publication in NED. This ranges from ‘openly on the internet’ to ‘onsite only within the National Library and applicable State/Territory libraries’. If your publication is available commercially, you may choose to limit access to ‘onsite only’. Choosing ‘onsite only’ means the item can be viewed, but not downloaded or printed at any point in time.
Publishers that choose to make their content openly accessible on the internet can also select to apply the following temporary access conditions on their publications during the deposit process:
- Openly on the Internet, with temporary download restriction – A temporary restriction on downloading – 6 months for serials, 12 months for monographs. After this time period the publication will be able to be downloaded.
- Openly on the Internet, with temporary download and location restrictions – A temporary location restriction – onsite, view-only access (no downloading, saving, printing) at the National, state and territory libraries for 12 months. After this period of time the publication can be viewed openly on the Internet and may be downloaded.
NED security standards are based on those specified in the Attorney-General’s Protective Security Policy Framework, the Australian Government Information Security Manual, the ISO 27000 Standards and recommendations of the Australian National Audit Office.
Further information
State Library of South Australia
State Library of New South Wales