Enforcing legal deposit in the digital era: a case of Zimbabwe

Abstract

The pervasive nature of dynamic modern technologies makes it imperative to explore the challenges of enforcing legal deposit in the context of the Internet. This paper seeks to describe the functions of current local legislation in ensuring compliance to legal deposit laws of Zimbabwe. It also seeks to highlight the challenges that the current legal deposit laws face in the context of the open access regime. It will analyse the current legislation for bibliographic compilation in the context of the shifts in the global knowledge landscape. The article explains the weaknesses of the current law with reference to current trends in the legal deposit of multimedia formats. The article also examines how bibliographic control can underpin national development goals with regards to teaching, learning and research. The authors explain how the absence of a print and online version of a national bibliography impact on collection development and scholarly research and explore the challenges of harmonizing print and electronic records in the context of digital divide. Possible ways to utilise modern technologies to capture, process and preserve the records as national heritage in Zimbabwe are suggested.