The acquisition of publications in the Royal Library of Belgium: a question of long-term access and preservation

Abstract

The Royal Library as a national library aims to ensure the long-term preservation of all Belgian publications. The law on legal deposit will soon be extended to digital publications. To ensure the long-term preservation of this new kind of collection, it is necessary to work out a preservation plan, covering both the content of the publications and their metadata. The formats of files and metadata are constantly evolving. What is considered long-term sustainability today may not be so in a few years. To anticipate this evolution and to be at the heart of what is happening in this field, the Royal Library positions itself as a proactive actor, discussing with stakeholders such as publishers, and with the various associations which develop standards for digital publishing.

The preservation function of the Royal Library of Belgium concerns the Belgian publications and is not extended to its international scientific collection. However, the transition from paper to electronic resources gives an opportunity to investigate the necessity of long-term access and the preservation of the acquired collection. This includes an analysis of the existing solutions and the current collection. Furthermore an acquisition charter is developed for potentially interesting publications.